Mercy for the Young: Atonement
by randomideaguy
Summary: What if Anakin had a moment of pause, a small second of indecision? The results of a second thought could affect his entire fall to the Dark Side, and the entire fate of the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

**16 GRS, Coruscant  
18 Hours after the Execution of Order 66**

All they could hear were the grunts. The screams. The yells.

But that wasn't the bad part.

Wasn't the part that terrified the young children, crowded around in the dark room. The part that scared them, the part that would haunt their dreams, was the disgusting aroma of burnt flesh from the blaster bolts that had rained down like fire, ending each fighting Jedi they had come across. They weren't skilled enough to notice the difference, but some of the bodies reeked too of lightsaber wounds. It was something that might have disturbed the children even more, had they known.

The room they were in was one that had belonged to the members of the Jedi Council.

If even one of their number had been here, they could have stopped this madness. Perhaps the great Master Yoda, or Master Windu, or even the hero, the Chosen One, Master Skywalker. It was said that he was destined to bring balance to the force, to destroy the Sith. Surely a hero as great as he could destroy this entire legion of soldiers? They didn't understand why these soldiers that had once fought alongside the Masters of the Council had now turned against them. They weren't confused, they just did not understand.

All they knew was that they were terrified, and it was up to Sors Bandeam, the oldest of them by less than a year, to keep the group together and sane.

He was terrified as well, but he knew nothing would be solved by crying. He would be brave, just as Master Yoda had taught him to be. Only eight years old, he already felt the need to lead his brethren. Master Windu had told him once that he had great potential, and might end up on the Council on day in the future.

Right now, those words were the only thing keeping him stable.

He didn't quite understand the dynamic yet, but Yoda had begun teaching, teaching all of them the dichotomy. Fear led to the dark side. So, by Sors reckoning, that meant they must be fearless. He certainly didn't feel fearless, and he was sure that his brothers and sisters gathered here agreed. Still, he put on the facade of bravery in the face of adversity. One of these days he would truly overcome fear, and then he would become a great Jedi.

But, as the door opened, letting a harsh blue light into the room, he realized that today was not that day.

Because it was Master Skywalker and he was _here._

He ran up to him, like a child to his father, or a disciple to his messiah. He hugged his leg, his resolve finally cracking. It was a show of fear, but he did not care.

He was simply too young to handle this situation. Had he kept it together, he might have asked a more strategic question, but in his current cracked state, all that came out was - "Master Skywalker, you've come to save us!"

Thereby officially relieving himself of the burden of duty, he looked up at the tall, dark young man, tears in his eyes.

He was still too young and inexperienced to read people, but he did notice Skywalker's face contort in pain, and then relax once more, becoming fatherlike withsomething close to affection. What he didn't notice was the calculating look in the dark yellow eyes, or the hand slowly drifting away from the lightsaber at his belt. The hand which a moment ago might have slain innocent children, and that now moved forward with a strange tenderness and caressed the blonde hair of the child's head.

"Yes, youngling. I've come to rescue you," Skywalker said.

And with that, he led the ten of them out of the council room. They were the only survivors of the temple massacre.

They were the lucky ones.


	2. Chapter 2

**16 GRS, Coruscant  
24 Hours after the Execution of Order 66**

"What do we have here, Vader?" the Emperor said from his spot at the far end of the chancellor's office.

Anakin detected anger in his voice, but dismissed it. The man was kind, and a lifelong friend. The pathway to the salvation of his wife and daughter. It was just thatwhen it came to the matters of the Republic – now Empire – he was all business.

Most likely, the anger now came from the stress of the transition from Republic to Empire.

He bowed, the younglings clustered in a huddle behind him.

"My Lord, I thought that they would be useful to us. As acolytes. We could train them, save them from the mind control of the Jedi. They could help save the Republic."

He believed every word that came out of his mouth.

That sort of naivety was unbecoming of a Sith Lord, something that Palpatine would have to train out of him.

The Emperor's chair turned slowly, and one of the children cried out in horror at the sight of his disfigured, marred face, still fresh from his duel with Windu.

"I told you to eliminate _all_ of the Jedi, did I not?"

While his voice was calm, his yellow eyes burrowed into Anakin's soul. They were polar opposites, in a way. Palpatine, always composed, and Anakin, always emotional. They were a good match – master and apprentice.

"Yes, Master. But-"

Before Anakin could register what was happening, a bolt of lightning arched across the room, over his bowed head.

He twisted about, eyes widening, and saw the blue light impact with one small, screaming form. Sors.

Sors was the unlucky one to be at the front of the group, the unofficial leader of this band of Jedi Younglings. He was also the one who had cracked Anakin's resolve. While he had been able to withstand such an attack from Darth Tyranus (albeit at great pain to himself), he'd been older. More experienced. This eight year old boy did not stand a chance. The small body fell to the ground with a dull thump, smoking evilly.

Anakin fought off the urge to puke.

This was beyond him, even with his capacity for evil – er, "doing what was necessary".

"Remember why we are fighting, Anakin!" Palpatine roared, "To bring order to the galaxy, to save your wife and child! Do you like these ignorant _brats_ more than your own future children! Would you give them up for some petty idealism?" He pointed at the children, now numbered at nine.

"They could just as easily be future enemies of the Empire as they could be allies! What's to stop them from turning on us? From ruining everything that I – we – have tried to accomplish? The peace that we are trying to build could be utterly destroyed!"

He was standing up now, and an oppressive atmosphere filled the room.

Anakin recognized it as the presence of the Dark Side, strong now and feeding off of the Emperor's negative emotions.

He couldn't deny the great power it gave the man– that was, after all, why he was working with him.

He looked down solemnly. Apologetically, even.

"Master. The Purge is already well under way. If we let them loose, they will become little more than untrained humans with potential. They will have no training and no way to receive such training. They'd be as harmless as any other rebel. But if we keep them, we could free their minds from the ignorance of the Jedi. We could release them from their bondage. They could become great warriors and potent allies for keeping peace throughout our Empire."

Palpatine was silent as he considered it.

"Your argument is a good one," he said at last, with a dark look at the huddled group. "Very well. We shall keep the children, for now. But do not fail me so I give them, my orders are not open to interpretation."

"Yes, Master."

"Guards! Take these children away. I shall deal with them later."

The group looked at Anakin as the faceless guards entered, their own expressions terrified and uncomprehending.

They did not know what was happening. Their friend, their leader, was dead. Anakin did not look at them. But, one by one, they reluctantly agreed to be ushered by the soldiers down the hallway, to places unknown. Of course, none of them could understand why the soldiers had first fought alongside them, then turned on the Jedi Order, and were now not shooting at them or Master Skywalker again.

"What would you have me do next, my Lord?"

"There is a Federation hold out on Mustafar, a large gathering of their leadership. Eliminate them."

"It shall be done, my Lord."

Anakin rose, black cape billowing about him and his golden metal arm gleaming in the light of the room, heading towards the door as quickly as possible. He tried his best to ignore the charred remains of Sors Bandeam, that heroic eight year old who could have changed the galaxy had he been given the time to grow up.

Maybe he already had.

He was almost at the door when the Emperor's voice sounded from behind him.

"Would you kill them if I told you it would save the life of your wife?"

Anakin paused, silent.

Palpatine grunted, having received his answer.

"Such weakness will not save your family."

Darth Vader slammed the door to the Emperor's office.

It wasn't until he was a good way away, and out of the sight of the general public, that he let it go, puking his guts out.

A single tear escaped his eye as he boarded his starfighter, before resolve hardened once more. This was for the good of the galaxy. The order would bring peace, and then everything would be perfect. But first, he had to go through the Crucible.

He just hoped he wouldn't get burnt alive in the flames.


	3. Chapter 3

**16 GRS, Mustafar  
****36 Hours after the Execution of Order 66**

The juxtaposition of the scene might have been startling to another man, but Anakin was off of his rocker. Here he stood on a platform, embracing his sweet clean wife, while just fifty feet away (behind closed doors of course) lay the corpses of more than twenty Separatists leaders. The smell of their blood and his wife's perfume mixed eerily in his nose. The feeling of power that had dominated him but moments ago receded along with his yellow eyes and his furious demeanor – now he was nothing but a tender, caring husband. She was crying, of course.

He could not exactly talk, either, though. He was quite the emotional one, and he wasn't even pregnant! It was usually her that kept the couple together, steering them towards the smart and reasonable path. To have the positions reversed – well, it came as a small shock to even Anakin. He simply held her for a few moments, hoping to comfort her with his presence.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked, genuine concern evident in his voice.

"I was so worried about you. Obi-Wan told me terrible things."

"What did he tell you?" This time a small hint of jealousy crept into voice.

"That you were in danger, that you had fallen to the Dark Side and were almost at the point of no return." She said, nearly sobbing. He grabbed her hand, holding it tenderly and looking at Padme graciously.

"But I don't want to return, Padme. The Dark Side isn't what you think it is. The Jedi have been lying to me – to us – this whole time! They kept me in the dark, held me back so that I couldn't threaten their plans. They wanted to usurp the Republic! Master Windu tried to kill the Chancellor, and I... I did what I had to do."

"I don't think Obi-Wan would lie to us like that, though." She pleaded with him.

"Who do you trust more, him or I?" He asked directly, a small bit of rage tinging his voice.

She hesitated, which gave him a moment of relief. She looked down for a moment, then back up.

"Listen, honey. You know I would trust you with my life. I just want to know that you're okay." A tear escaped her eye. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

He resonated so very much with her last statement, the light in his eyes was clear. "That's why I am doing this! I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of."

"Come away with me, then! Help me raise our child, leave everything else behind while we still can!"

Before he could properly formulate a response, Obi-Wan stepped out into view, from Padme's ship. His reluctance was clear in his step, as if he had forced himself out here to get this terrible confrontation over with. He looked down at his wife, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.

"Did you bring him with you?" He asked her, pointing at the bearded man above the two of them. She turned around quickly, and the shock on her face was answer enough. "I – no, I didn't!"

"Leave her out of this, Anakin." Obi-Wan commanded simply as he stepped down the platform slowly and carefully. Regardless of these signs of weariness, his hand was very clearly and firmly holding onto his lightsaber, still unignited and attached to his waste – but also still a viable threat. Anakin smirked smugly at his former master.

"So you've turned against me as well?" He asked, pointedly.

"No, Anakin. You've turned against me, and the Order!" Obi-Wan replied. Padme, who was now very near an emotional breakdown, looked back and forth between the two Jedi, who both eyed each other like predators sizing up a future kill.

"They were going to kill the Chancellor. Take over the Republic. Ruin the peace that you and I have been fighting for in this hellish war." Anakin explained to his former master.

"You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your very mind, you have become a pawn for his game. How many of his apprentices have we seen fall! The nature of the Sith is betrayal, he is only using you. I beg of you, turn back now, before it is too late!" Obi-Wan pleaded with his son, his brother, his apprentice, his friend.

"If I turn back now, the Empire could come crumbling down, and all the peace and order I have fought to create shall be undone." Anakin paused, and looked at his friend with genuine sorrow. "Don't make me do this. I cannot let you threaten all that I have sacrificed for."

"Anakin! Don't kill him!" Pamanageddme to interject.

"My allegiance does not belong to a Sith's Empire."

"If you are not with me, then you are against me."

"Only the Sith deal in absolutes, Anakin. I will do what I must." He said, drawing his lightsaber carefully and deliberately. Once it was out, though, he ignited it and quickly got into a fighting stance, a barely discernable wince on his face.

Anakin looked at his wife, crying and looking between the two men. He looked back over the chasm, where the bodies of the leaders of the Trade Federation lay. Their death's did not just cause a physical stench, but the spiritual decay of the Dark Side permeated this area. It was a wonder he could control his more base instincts at all. He returned his gaze to Obi-Wan, his own lightsaber flying to his hand. The yellow gleam returned to his eyes as he drew on the very well of dark energy that he had created himself less than an hour ago.

"No! Don't fight!" Padme cried out to the two of them, as she attempted to stand between the two warriors, who were now encircling each other carefully. It was no use. Obi-Wan felt an absurd disturbance in the force, and Anakin – No, Darth Vader – flew into the air like a bullet, crashing down like an avalanche upon Obi-Wan Kenobi, his old master and friend.

The battle of the century began.


	4. Chapter 4

**16 GRS, Mustafar  
37 Hours After the Execution of Order 66**

Sparks flew into the air brilliantly as the two shining blue towards connected, lighting up the dark black sand below the two opposing warriors. The only light other than their swords was from the bright red lava next to them. While the two of them were more or less accustomed to heat, the temperature created by this molten lava entered an entirely new level of hot. In fact, it was scorching and if either of them stepped too close it they would suffer the fate of having their robes catch on fire.

Vader's eyes were still a dark yellow, menacing and reminiscent of some obscure but terrifying predator. This was the clear sign that Obi-Wan was fighting anything but Anakin Skywalker. Before him was a dark, brooding creature – rage in human form. There was nothing that would stop this madman short of something absolutely extreme happened. Obi-Wan realized only a few seconds into the fight that it would end with one of them in a body bag. There was no negotiating with the darkling, it was not human anymore. The dark side had twisted and transformed the Chosen One, and it was all at Obi-Wan's feet.

He was losing, of course. He couldn't get the images of the nine year old boy from Tatooine, shivering in cold on the Queen's ship. Lost in a memory, he finally made the fatal misstep, the last mistake he would ever make. He lost his footing and fell, straight into the sand. It all happened in slow-mo for him, and his last words were already on his lips before he actually hit the sand. His sword dropped in the process – he knew this fight was over before the fateful thud that would be his dead body could even impact someone's ears.

Only... it didn't happen. He heard the thud just as anyone else might have, but it was uniquely different a beautiful. That 'oof' sound that came from his mouth was music to his ears. He landed, and he was alive. At least for the moment. His sword was a few feet away, but he didn't need it, didn't feel that strange compulsion that some feel to dive for their weapon in their last moments, searching for salvation. He simply looked into the eyes of his killer, his comrade, his brother, his son.

"Anakin..." He managed, completely out of breathe from the titantic sword fight that they had just engaged in, carrying them many ways away from the platform that held the pregnant woman who had started all this darkness only by being beautiful. It had been at least half an hour of solid fighting, and Obi-Wan was spent. Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. His sense of sorrow was long gone, and the force felt as far away as it had ever been before.

Those demonic yellow eyes stared down the shining blue blade, right into Obi-Wan's own eyes. Ironic, how that blue blade, which had been a symbol of justice and salvation for so many, had now become a symbol of oppression and death. Such was the way of the dark side. Obi-Wan stared at the man before him, the boy who had been warped just as much by the dark forces of the Sith. He had only one thing to say, one final last thing to get in before he was finally taken away for good. His last testament, if you will.

"Anakin, I am sorry." A tear fell from his eye, and before it could even land on the black sand below them and evaporate from the heat, they felt a disturbance in the force. The two warriors both looked back in the direction they came, and almost identical signs of worry appeared on their face. Anakin looked back at Obi-Wan – and indeed, he had once again become Anakin and not Vader, for his blue eyes had returned. He looked at his former master in the eye, the reminder of his wife taking the edge off of his connection to the dark side. He flipped his lightsaber, now holding it like a javelin, pointed at Obi-Wan. No more than a few miliseconds after it landed, it was launched from his hands at the Jedi Master lying in the sand. And, with a dead-on aim that only the force could provide...

It missed. Landed right next to Obi-Wan's head. He opened his eyes once he realized what had happened, and Anakin was already gone, his black cloak just falling below the horizon. He was returning to his pregnant wife and his soon-to-be-born child. Padme was going into labor, and Anakin wasn't so far gone to remember why he had taken this path in the first place. He would care for his wife, and then, perhaps, return to face his master. He was understandably scared – aside from the dreams of her death that had driven him insane these past few months, there was also the completely natural fear of a future father. After all the worrying, he never thought he'd see this day.

Anakin returned to the platform in a few moments, arriving with the speed that only a husband sensing his wife in need could achieve. The force guided his movements, and along with the droids he dragged Padme – whose water had broken – back into her ship. Being one of the best pilots in the universe, he quickly set a course for the first place he could think of with a decent medical staff – Cloud City on Bespin. The computer annoyingly informed him that their were other worlds closer by, and he replied with a smirk -

"Tell that to someone who isn't the best pilot in the galaxy."


	5. Chapter 5

**16 GRS, Outer Rim  
40 Hours after the Execution of Order 66**

Anakin must have done something right along the way, because while his wife's birthing experience was a great something, it was certainly not a tragedy. All the pacing, the worrying, the meditation, the attempts to tap into whatever power would possibly help his wife survive this ordeal. None of it had really eased him or provided him any sort of help whatsoever. Finally, her cries called him to her side, and he simply resigned himself to tenderly holding her hand and being with her, should these actually be her last moments.

By some divine grace, she survived. The tears came, but they were tears of happiness at the sight of their twin children. That's right – twins. It was a great blessing, directly from the Force. All these months, they had been under the impression that they had a daughter on the way. And that was entirely true. What they did not know, though, was that there was another being, another future hero residing in the womb with his sister. It was ironic yet convenient that they had picked two names, one for a boy and one for a girl. They had no idea they would be allowed to use both.

"Luke." As the small incredibly fragile creature was placed into Anakin's arms, he felt a lurch in his stomach as he remembered the brave Sors Bandeam, a blackened corpse upon the Emperor's chamber room floor. Something that had bent at that moment now snapped within him, though he did not tell anyone.

"Leia." He smiled as the second child, a girl (obviously), was placed into the frail arms of the weakened Padme. She had experienced an insane last few hours, but she was alive, and she was with her family. When it came down to it, that was all the two – now four – of them really wanted. All they strove for. Family. The circle was complete, and there was a sense of the force permeating the room. But unlike the spiritual stench that was the result of the fear or anger or hatred, this one was a light, happy feeling that came to even those not sensitive to the force. A sense of anticipation, of love, of care.

Even Anakin began crying, among this gathering of his loved ones. For just a few moments, he was allowed to forget the terrible deeds of the last few hours, and the fear and doubt that had plagued him in the last few months. He smiled at the boy below him, and stuck out a finger for the boy the hold onto. The small face of the child scrunched up, and soon the room was rocked with the sounds of a child's first cry, in all it's intense glory. The boy grabbed onto the finger before him fiercely, even as he cried his heart out. Anakin chuckled, "Strong grip." The second half of his thought was left off, but it would have been something like –_ he could grow up to be a fierce warrior_.

Meanwhile, Leia remained perfectly calm, her small eyes taking in the entire scene around them. She had clearly taken more after her mother – a thinker, a listener. The qualities of a diplomat, to be sure. It was all perfect, everything that Anakin had wished for. Everything that he had been willing to sell his soul for and kill thousands of Jedi for. The more time he spent with his new chldren and his living wife, the more that thought terrified him.

Many ways away, the humiliated and confused Obi-Wan Kenobi had slowly but surely made his way back to the main platform where his confrontation with Anakin had begun. His slow pace was one part weariness from the battle, one part complete lack of motivation, and one part reviewing the scars the battle left on this godforsaken platform on Mustafar. He knew before he had even gotten up that Anakin would take Padme's ship, and with his piloting skills and Obi-Wan's lack thereof, there would be no chase. It would be futile, and Obi-Wan knew it.

Besides, these events were promising, at least to the hopeful master of the fallen student. Yoda would be skeptical, to say the least. This was nothing more than continued interest in his family, which as they all knew was not cohesive with the Jedi way of living. Still, Obi-Wan had to believe that there was some small hope. If he didn't, he risked his heart breaking and his will falling.

He held in his hands the familiar form of his own lightsaber. But that wasn't the significant part – in his other hand he held the also familiar form of Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. The sword of a knight in shining armor, a hero of the galaxy. Was this some sort of message? He doubted it – his apprentice was sadly incapable of such subtleties. The lightsaber was familiar enough to him – he had held it many times, as his former apprentice tended to lose his lightsaber quite frequently.

He finally managed to make his way back to the central platform, and surely enough, Padme's ship was gone. Obi-Wan's ride. Maybe this had all be an act of cruelty by Darth Vader, to leave his old master to rot on the lava planet Mustafar. That might seem in character with the new villain that Anakin had become. But yet again, it exhibited an amount of forethought that his student had shown himself lacking in.

He was about to give up and meditate on his own confusion at the edge of the platform when a small glint in the middle of the platform caught his eye.

Though Anakin was emotional and impulsive and forgetful, there was one thing that he was a complete and unquestionable genius at – piloting. Therefore, the sight of his fighter keys sitting in the middle of platform, appearing to have been accidentally dropped on the way out?

That would never be done on accident, no matter was sort of stress Anakin was under. Obi-Wan smiled a big smile, and a warm feeling spread through his heart. "Maybe Anakin is still alive, somewhere out there." He said to himself as he vaulted into the cockpit of Anakin's signature starfighter, the vehicle that had fought many Clone Wars battles and carried him to this very planet, where he had massacred the leaders of the Trade Federation – which Obi-Wan had happened to see on the way back up.

One thing was fore sure – things would never be the same in the galaxy.


	6. Chapter 6

**16 GRS, Coruscant**  
**72 Hours after the Execution of Order 66**

"Vader." The slow drawl of the Emperor seemed to fill the room creepily. "You have returned in safety. I felt a disturbance in the force, I was worried that something had happened to you." And indeed, his face held at least genuine worry, if not honest concern for Anakin's well being. He almost seemed flustered, as if he had seen a vision in the Force and it had not come true.

Anakin knew the situation, but it gave him a few different feelings than the Emperor's. He had dreamed for months that his wife would die, and he had thrown in his lot with this kind old man to try and improve his fate. It had worked, his wife lived. But the very very strange thing was this – the force had no part in his wife's childbirth. Him being neutral had saved her, and he suspected that any intervention whether Light or Dark sided could have complicated the whole process.

"I suspect you have eradicated the threat of the Federation from our growing Empire?" The Emperor asked as Anakin slowly rose from his position on his knees.

"Yes, your will was accomplished. But there is something greater." Anakin replied quickly, his face completely blank and emotionless. The Emperor seemed genuinely curious, almost giddy.

"Was there a Jedi? Did you fix the problem? Perhaps Yoda, or Obi-Wan, or-" Anakin cut him off quickly but efficiently.

"My wife, she went into labor." The room went silent, and the Emperor stared at Anakin for a few moments. But the young Jedi was for once very solemn, and was giving no hints to the 'kind old man'.

"I am so sorry for your loss, Anakin. I did everything in my power to save her, to give you the power to keep her in our peaceful Empire. What of the children? Did they survive?" He asked conversationally, perfectly playing the part of a concerned friend. Anakin's face seemed to relax slightly.

"Yes, we had twins. Luke and Leia. They are both so beautiful and full of life." He replied.

The Emperor smiled.

"Good. Very good. They could be great assets to the Empire, I congratulate you." The Emperor looked over in the corner of the room, where he had the indecency to have left out the decaying and crumbling body of the dead Sors Bandeam.

"But I must admit, if you had eliminated the younglings, you perhaps could have gained enough power to save your wife as well. You must make trades like that to get things done. It is simply the way of the Dark Side." The Emperor began as he felt a lesson coming on.

Anakin looked over at the body of Sors, then back at the Emperor. There was a strange gleam in his eye as he visibly turned a thought over and over in his head.

"Though your wife's death is a complete tragedy and a true loss to the security of our Empire – for she was indeed a resourceful politician – the universe can still be made safe for children and conducive to their livelihood. If you are still willing to go on, of course. I understand that you are torn up about your wife's untimely death, but that emotion could be put to good use as a weapon against the enemies of the security of our Empire. I have another mission for you, investigating a strange group of aliens in the Unknown Regi-" The Emperor trailed off, noticing that his apprentice was slightly distracted by something that seemed to be literally eating him up.

"Palpatine." Anakin said simply. It was the first time since this whole mess had begun that he had addressed the Emperor in such a personal manner. It was informal, and slightly insulting to the Emperor's now insanely bloated ego. But still, he was curious as to the state of his apprentice's mind, so he let the little runt continue.

"My wife is alive." Anakin stated simply, and almost instantly Palpatine shot out of his chair even as Anakin approached him threateningly. Anakin had clearly and precisely proven Palpatine's complete lack of knowledge about his wife's well being, thus showing that he never knew how to save her in the first place. The feeling emanating from Anakin's force aura was clear now, and Palpatine should have noticed it.

He had just such an aura when he had murdered his own master. In his years he had manipulated his own apprentice's away from the ideology of killing their master, thus ensuring his own power and survival. But the way of the Sith had a manner of reasserting itself. And that terrified Palpatine – after all of his hard years working towards immortality, he never even conceived that his foremost Knight would betray him.

In a panic he drew his lightsaber, preparing to ignite it and run his most promising apprentice through like a wild animal. But this time was different. That fool, Jinn his name was, had said that Skywalker had even more midichlorians than any Jedi who had ever existed. And just in this moment, Sidious could feel the entire weight of that awesome power bearing down upon him.

And it was nothing short of terrifying.

Everything that wasn't nailed down in the room, from the desk to the couches to the chairs to the papers on Palpatine's desk to the water in the glass to Sors Bandeam's rotten body was lifted directly into the air by the simple presence of Anakin's force powers. Sidious attempted to save the situation, giving himself confidence as he noticed a crucial flaw in Anakin's attack.

"You have no lightsaber, you fool. You cannot possibly win this encounter, step down now and I will let you remain at my side." Palpatine boasted.

The look in Anakin's eyes alone could kill. He replied to the Emperor coldly, "I don't need a saber."

And just like that the lightsaber was lifted from Palpatine's hands, and piece by piece was taken apart until every bit was hanging in the air, and the artificial crystal that had been at the center of it was exposed. After a few moments of intensity it was reduced to ash, much like the dead body of Sors Bandeam.

Anakins smiled. No, he goddamn smirked. The look on Palpatine's face was one of pure confusion, incomprehension at his own total defeat. It quickly turned to anger, and power rays of lightning flew across the room even as everything floated out of the way to give Anakin a straight path to his former master.

Step by step, Palpatine retreated to the window, standing on the edge where he had blasted Master Windu out but a day or two ago. Palpatine gasped out fearfully, "B-but you c-can't do this, I'm more powerful than you!" More electric rays flew at Anakin, but they simply bent around him, creating a wonderfully beautiful prism around the powerful Jedi. It arced around the Jedi and collected in front of him, until Palpatine was finally drained – after a few solid minutes of lightning attacks.

"Your manipulations come to an end – NOW!" And with that Anakin threw forth the collected energy of Palpatine, adding in his own rage and hatred to add even more lightning to the mix. Palpatine was impaled in the chest, the searing hot lighting burning through every vital organ in seconds before launching the frail old man's body miles away into another building, where several floors were shattered by the force of his impact.

Anakin had just decapitated the Empire. The Dark Side flowed through him as he spun on his heels, watching the stormtroopers gathering at the door, their rifles raised cautiously. His eyes burning bright yellow as he stared at them.

"Master Vader." One began.

He smiled again.


	7. Chapter 7

**16 GRS, Tantive IV**  
**75 Hours after the Execution of Order 66**

Obi-Wan breathed a sigh of release as the bay pressurized, allowing him to turn off his own vessels life support and other important systems. As it swayed uncertainly to the ground, already the door at the fair end of the hanger swung open. Out stepped the brave Bail Organa, already interested in hearing what tale Kenobi had to tell.

"Kenobi!"

Obi-Wan held up his hand, making the Senator pause while he slowly pulled himself out of the ship. It was clear that his body was sore from the fight that he had engaged in with Skywalker. As he made the final jump to the floor Obi-Wan noticed Yoda in the background standing in the doorway.

"Come Obi-Wan, your story you will tell us." He said simply, before turning and moving slowly back into the ship, his small cane clinking every step of the way as it hit the smooth silver ground of the ship. Bail looked back and forth between the two, then breathed heavily and followed the wise older Jedi inside. Clearly he was getting a little flustered, what with the whole fall of the Republic and extermination of the Jedi thing.

Obi-Wan himself stepped quickly enough to the door of the landing room, but he took a moment to pause and look at the ship behind him. It was Anakin's star fighter that he had left Mustafar with. He looked at his belt, which held the added weight of both his own lightsaber and that of Anakin Skywalker. He wiped his eye, finding some leftover black sand from Mustafar. He flicked it away in disgust and walked down the hallway quickly. Upon reaching the end of the hallway he turned the corner and saw Yoda and Bail in the meeting room of the Tantive IV.

"It really is a beautiful ship, Senator." Obi-Wan said conversationally. Bail simply responded with a polite nod, then Yoda began asking his questions.

"Take care of Skywalker, did you?"

"No. He actually almost killed me, but at the last second he hesitated and left."

"Hmm. Strange occurrence this is."

"I think there might be some good in him still. After all, you and I both saw that video where he removed those children from the slaughter. He may have turned against us but he is still following the rules of war."

"What suggest you, Obi-Wan?"

"That he may be simply misguided and not insane. We could bring him back into the fold."

"Once a Jedi has begun down the path of darkness, it will forever haunt his destiny. Know this, you do, Kenobi."

"But he was my brother! I cannot simply let him run this path to destruction. You know how Palpatine is, if he's been orchestrating this all these years, that means he's willing had multiple of his own apprentices killed. What will it mean for the Prophecy if Palpatine kills him?"

"The Prophecy, lies it must be. Deception, of the Dark Side it may have come."

"You're saying that there is no Prophecy?"

"Yes. Only logical, it is."

"What Prophecy?" Bail Organa cut into their conversation. Yoda looked at him sadly, as if his little old heart was breaking. Obi-Wan took it upon himself to reply.

"The Prophecy posits that one day a Jedi will come along, he will have the greatest power of any of the Jedi, and he will restore Balance to the Force, thus ridding the universe of evil."

"And you think that Anakin, the man who betrayed the entire Republic and Jedi Order, is the man who is supposed to get rid of the Dark Side?"

"I know it seems far-fetched now. I'm a little confused myself, to be honest. But I do know that my old Master Qui-Gon Jinn believed it, and Anakin does have more midichlorians than even Yoda here. And besides, he is already showing signs of turning back. His compassion on Mustafar is clear sign that there is still some good in him. There is still a chance for the Prophecy to succeed."

Yoda shook his head, staring off into space solemnly. Obi-Wan turned to him.

"What about the Emperor? Is he dead?"

"Kill him, I did not."

There was a brief pause in the room, and suddenly Bail gasped. The two Jedi looked at him, with Obi-Wan's hand going to his saber. Realizing that it was a false alarm, he let his hand go limp. He was far too keyed up from all this stuff.

"You didn't kill him, but someone did." Bail said simply, looking up from a display on his wrist and turning on the holo-screen at the end of the conference room. The two Jedi turned to look cautiously at the footage. The sight that greeted them was something to behold. It was the Capitol building, but with a big gaping hole in the side. The caption below said "Emperor Palpatine killed by traitor Jedi".

"Mas Amedda has been elected the new Emperor by the Senate." Bail cut in. The picture switched, this time to an image that they were altogether two familiar with.

It was a picture of Anakin Skywalker, former Hero of the Republic. Underneath his image was the simple caption:

"Imperial Enemy Number One. Wanted: 1,000,000,000 Credit Reward."

Obi-Wan smiled, looking over at Yoda who looked more conflicted than he had ever been in his life. Bail looked at him and smiled, albeit for different reasons. This was good, very good for the fate of the Republic perhaps they could still be saved. While Yoda was still thinking, Bail clapped Obi-Wan on the shoulder, pulling him out of the room.

"Look, Amedda's a stickler for procedure. This could give us a great chance to do something about the Republic. I would need your help, though. I can organize things, but we'd need a man at the front of everything." Bail explained quickly, the excitement clear in his face. Obi-Wan put his hand on his chin, stroking his beard as he mulled over the proposition.

"Perhaps. What kind of organization would I be representing? The last thing I declared loyalty declared me a fugitive and had my friends massacred." He replied morbidly.

"The Alliance to Restore the Republic. We would fight the Empire to bring back Democracy to the people." Organa said. Obi-Wan just chuckled in reply, shaking his head.

"Sounds more like a Rebel Alliance than anything else. I'm guessing I'd be doing most of the field work for a while?"

Bail nodded. After a few tense moments, Obi-Wan shrugged, offering his hand to the Senator.

"You've got yourself a deal."


	8. Chapter 8

**16 GRS, Coruscant**  
**3 Days after the Execution of Order 66**

"Master Vader."

CC-1119 was at a curious impasse. He had nothing but absolute respect for Anakin Skywalker. While he did not care for most of the Jedi, this particular man had fought steadfastly next to 1119's soldiers and cared for each of them on a personal, individual level. That was more than could be said of most. The grand majority of Republic field commanders saw the clones as human droids. No more, no less.

Sure, they were good fighters, but they were all cut from the same cloth. But Anakin saw them differently, they weren't just cannon fodder for the war. Even so, orders were orders, and they had an obligation to the Empire. The Empire which had just lost it's Emperor at the hand of his own second in command. 1119 didn't care for politics, but he liked Anakin.

But he also had orders.

Anakin looked at the clone soldier in the forefront, clearly sensing the struggle within him. The others were patient at best, or similarly struggling. These were men from the 501st, which Anakin had previously adopted as his own personal battalion of storm troopers. They had committed some heinous crimes together, and in only three days they were already known in some circles as "Vader's Fist". It would be so _easy_ for him to simply use them to subvert the rest of the Republic.

The idea of the power he could have as Emperor, control over each and every tidbit of life in this sorry and dangerous galaxy. He would never have to worry about the safety of his kids again. He could do whatever he pleased. He would be worshiped, everyone would have to listen to him. He wouldn't be restricted by the rules of the Jedi. He could take the throne right now, become the most powerful man in the galaxy, he could crush his enemies into -

"Hey hun." A forceful yet sweet feminine voice echoed through his head. It was his sweet clean wife, Padme. No, she had not spontaneously developed force powers. The uncomfortable feeling in Anakin's ear reminded him of the earpiece that he had carefully placed inside before coming here. In the aftermath of his wife's birthing, they had a serious heart to heart. They certainly had some political issues between them, but deep down they still cared for each other.

Anakin shook his head, his dark yellow eyes changing back to blue as his thought process was interrupted. He put his hand up to his ear, ignoring the slight flinch from one of the soldiers. They were not a threat, they were bugs in comparison to his power. Still, they were just as valid as the rest. He focused on his wife.

"Yes, dear." He said, almost ironically pleasant.

"Do you love me?" She called back.

"You know I do." He replied, looking about the room. Oh how he wished he could take over, right here. It would so easy. He looked the foremost clone through the visors, and could see that he was still thinking of what to do. Padme replied over the earpiece.

"Then jump."

"What?"

"Do you love me or not?"

Anakin sighed, looking around. Maybe he could come back another day. He cracked his neck, looking out the window. A dangerous gust of window almost pushed him over. Palpatine was an idiot to leave this damn thing open for so long. He turned to look at the clones, then back out the window.

Something seemed to click in the first clone's head, and Anakin smirked as best he could.

"Appo, right?"

A sense of utter surprise emanated from the clone. They probably weren't used to being treated like actual people. Which was a shame, in Anakin's opinion. The clone looked at him, and when Anakin tossed a small metal object in his direction he did not even flinch. He caught it effortlessly, and the object almost instantaneously disappeared into the folds of his armor.

Behind him, multiple clones turned the corner, clearly not from the 501st, given the markings on their armor.

"You do what you gotta do." He replied, saluting the soldier. There was a small imperceptible nod, and then the man gave his orders.

"He just assassinated the Emperor. Fire!" CC-1119, otherwise known as Appo, commanded his troops. The nine of them fired even as the twenty non-501st soldiers came running up behind them.

Anakin was sprinting towards the open window before he even finished his sentence. He didn't really attempt to block any of the shots, even though it would have been foolish for him not to. He vaulted out of the window at full speed, without any inhibitions. He silently noted the fact that somehow the nine veteran soldiers all completely missed hitting him even once.

He grunted loudly as he landed on the rock solid surface of a moving hover car. He briefly flashed back to a similar time many years ago, on a mission with Obi-Wan to protect the life of the very person inside this car. He smiled as he maneuvered around the edge and quickly vaulted himself through the window and into the passenger seat of the vehicle.

"Husband." Padme said simply.

"Wife." He replied in kind as he reached over and stole a quick kiss from her. He then turned and looked behind them at the shattered window of Capitol building. He was slightly disappointed that he could not stay and take his rightful place as ruler of the universe.

But as he looked over into the beautiful woman in the seat next to him, he realized something. He wouldn't have given this up for anything, even power. He smiled as they quickly weaved through all the right back alleys, until they reached their main ship in a little used slum that Padme had tried to get renovated a few years back. The Senate was still deciding on the issue.

The hover car docked quietly and quickly into the bay of their ship, which Anakin had "borrowed" from a local on the platform where Padme had given birth to his two children. He had found out from the owner that it was called the Stellar Envoy, though Padme didn't understand why he even cared what the name of the ship was. He told it was a pilot thing.


	9. Chapter 9

**16 GRS, Corellia**  
**3 Weeks after the Execution of Order 66**

Obi-Wan turned the corner quickly, his cloak flowing gracefully behind him. His hood was pulled low, greatly obscuring his features. He had just cut through an alleyway to narrowly avoid one of the hourly patrols by the local clone trooper squadron. What with all the stuff that had happened in the Empire lately, they were more on guard than they had ever been – even during the war.

Having fought with them for many years, Obi-Wan knew exactly how they thought and fought. For him it was almost natural to avoid them, and when that failed his subtle force tactics were able to save him. One such instance involved him breaking open and entire fruit cart so that the clones would trip and not reach him before he exited through the alleyway. He had been pulling this stunt around town for a week or so now, waiting for his contact.

Bail had told him that it might take a little while, and that he should relax and take a break for a few days. The word quit was simply not in Obi-Wan's vocabulary, he could not make himself stop. He had already adopted a pseudonym for the purposes of identification in case he was questioned by some clone troopers – Benjamin. Seemed to fit, although it was a rather mundane name compared to his real one.

He was in the middle of one of his many reconnaissance missions when someone utterly surprised him by grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him into a dark alleyway. His hand went down towards his belt, but he found that his lightsaber was not there. Of couse, he had left it in the car so that he would not bring any more attention to himself than he had to.

"Shut up, you old coot!" The stranger replied, punching Obi-Wan in the gut and taking the breathe out of his lungs. Obi-Wan pulled away, thinking that he might have found his end here. He gasped at the familiar face of Jango Fett. Or at least that's what it appeared to be. From the look on his face there was an uncertainty about the situation, but no real malice. Of course, the other clones didn't feel bad when they massacred Obi-Wan's people.

"What do you want? I'm just an old farmer making his rounds." Obi-Wan did in his best mock weakling voice. The clone wasn't convinced, as he just looked at Kenobi like he was insane.

"General Kenobi. I wouldn't forget the face. Now if you don't want to get captured by the Battalion out there, I suggest you come with me." The clone replied. Obi-Wan looked cautiously at the end of the alleyway, where indeed an entire group of clone troopers had passed. He sighed, turning back to the clone.

"Lead the way, soldier."

"That's Scorch to you, Jedi."

Obi-Wan didn't waste time following the incognito clone through a small open grate in the side of a building. He quickly found it much more spacious than a single look would suggest, and stood up to his full height within the chamber. Scorch didn't lose any time – he kept right on down the dark black tunnel as quickly as possible. Obi-Wan followed behind him faithfully, somewhat nervous about the whole situation but ultimately confident that he could handle whatever came his way.

The Fall of the Jedi had forced him to reconsider his views on the force, no pun intended. He had been contacted by the long lost ghost of his former mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn. They had long talks which had ultimately comforted Obi-Wan and gave him a new direction. Since roughly around the time of his fight with Anakin, Obi-Wan had turned to the philosophy of the Living Force. The Jedi had spent so much time looking to fulfill their supposed destiny that they had walked right into the Emperor's trap. Not that Obi-Wan was not a believer in the Prophecy – it simply didn't need to factor as much into his decision making as those espousing the Unifying Force would believe.

With the Order dead, there was less of a need or compulsion to rely on tradition. Because that tradition was literally killed off. Yoda wasn't entirely convinced, but Obi-Wan had found a great peace had come over his broken heart after he let gave his inhibitions over to the force.

With this in mind he followed Scorch down the long tunnel for what seemed like at least an hour. By Obi-Wan's guess they were quickly nearing the outskirts of the city at this point. He attempted to strike up a conversation with the clone soldier.

"Why are you doing this? I thought your type stuck to orders?"

Scorch gave out a single chuckle, not turning to look at Obi-Wan. He shook his head, running a hand through his hair, which had begun to sweat under the oppressing heat of the tunnel that they were traveling through. There was hardly any light, but the light that was there made the sweat drops gleam.

"I've asked myself that question a thousand times since I got out here. I'm not even sure."

"Who are you working for now, anyways?"

"Technically, the Republic. Someone offered me a chance to finish this damn war, and I felt obliged to answer their call."

The clone paused, and Obi-Wan realized that they had come upon a door without his knowledge. Obi-Wan had vaguely noticed that they passed multiple other tunnel entrances along the way. There must be an entire catacomb system under the city, presumably left over from the one that had been here before the modern city had been built. It was still a fairly amazing thing. The clone knocked on the door, and there was shuffling from the other side.

"For the record, our boss told us not to trust you."

The door slid open, revealing two others who looked almost identical to the clone that had led Obi-Wan down this path. There were still minor differences of course, and they could most likely tell much better than he. But to Kenobi they basically all looked the same. He couldn't help but smirk.

"I must say, I'm surprised there are clones out there willing to engage in rebellion like this."

"This isn't about rebellion." A dark voice came from behind Obi-Wan, one of the clones. Given the way he carried himself it was sure that he was the leader. The man saluted him.

"General Kenobi. I'm RC-1138, but you can call me Boss." The man dropped his hand just as quickly as it came up, and Obi-Wan wearily returned the gesture. The guy didn't seem to care, though, as he was already walking past Kenobi towards a silver console in the center of the room. It lit up almost instantly, bringing to the forefront the image of nine kids locked up in a room, all screaming in pain.

Obi-Wan gasped, recognizing them as younglings from the temple. He turned to look at the clones, wondering if they did this simply to torture him before they put a bullet in the back of his head. Or at least before they tried to do that.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Someone wants to get these kids out of there. They specifically requested your help."

"Where are they being held?"

"Some backwater place called Korriban. It's manned by a bunch of droids that have been reactivated from the war, apparently they're in service to the Emperor. The Empire plans to move in and reclaim them about a week from now."

"Why do you need me? Droids should be easy for you big fellows to handle."

"It's not the droids that's the problem. The place is haunted. A bunch of evil spirits running around causing havoc. That's why he put them with the droids. They aren't affected by that kind of stuff. Our boss suspects there's a Sith Lord on his way there to take the kids for himself." Boss explained.

"And whose your boss, I ask for the hundredth time?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Lord Vader."

Obi-Wan gasped, and if he had been holding anything at that moment he would have dropped it.


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Hello, all! I generally prefer not to do any personal notes because I wish for my story to stand on it's own merit, but here goes - Sorry I haven't posted anything, I've been in a funk since going through a nasty break-up which ended an altogether bad relationship, and my muse has simply been gone for quite some time. But, the bus has come back, and my brain is open again!

I'd like to thank everyone who has kept up with this. I only have one simple request - I have been re-reading this and been finding countless careless grammar and spelling mistakes which are quite simply unacceptable. I was wondering if anyone would like to volunteer to be a beta-reader for this story. This would include checking both new chapters and fixing mistakes in the first ten chapters of the story so that I may update them and have a peace of mind.

And without further babbling on the part of a mere author, let us return to the real event - the story:

**16 GRS, Korriban**  
**3 Weeks after the Execution of Order 66**

It had been a bit of a drive through space since Obi-Wan had linked up with the clone troopers on Corellia. Altogether the ship ride had been relatively the quiet, with Obi-Wan practicing deep meditation in the break room while the clone soldiers went about the business of keeping the ship up and running. In some respects they moved like robots, always knowing exactly what to do and in most cases moving in perfect sync. It almost reminded him of a force technique he had once heard of.

Of course, it wasn't fair to compare them to the droids. Given their demand to be called by personal first names it was clear to Obi-Wan that these clones had developed their own personalities. This of course raised all of it's own questions in Obi-Wan's mind, particularly whether or not this was an anomaly or all the clones felt like individuals. If this was the case, Obi-Wan had certainly been cold and apathetic in his capacity as a Jedi. Not that he had callously thrown away his soldiers, like some Jedi did.

But still, the thought of them possessing autonomy unsettled him, particular with regards to the common Jedi perception of souls, which in theory ruled out clones. He pursed his lips as he tilted over and over the lightsaber in his hand. It belonged to a boy he once knew – a klutz, who as it turned out had a very bad habit of losing his lightsaber. He wasn't quite sure if that kid still existed, and it was this thought that kept him cautious of this "Lord Vader" on several levels. For one, he was operating under a Sith name. He could easily be deceived, though if this was a deception it was a needlessly elaborate one.

He was snapped out of his spiritual wanderings as one of the clones – Obi-Wan believed his name was Fixer – sat down across the table from him. His jaw was set firmly, and while the others seemed to be somewhat resentful of Obi-Wan's presence on the ship, he had noticed that this one was one of the few who just genuinely did not seem to care. He simply followed orders. A 'normal' clone.

"We've just entered orbit around Korriban. Lord Vader's personal starfighter will rendezvous with us on the surface. 1138 ordered me to brief you for the finer points of this mission, so here I am." Without further prompting he pushed a large button on the table, bringing up a large image on the holoprojector. The picture was of a large facility on the surface, what looked suspciously like a temple. Obi-Wan could not help but feel shiver down his spine as a single word crawled along his subconscious.

"Sith." He spat like venom from his mouth. The clone looked up at him for a moment, before shrugging and looking back at the hologram. He pointed to various locations, one at the center, then three underlying rooms and finally a wall on the outside of the temple. Each of them were highlighted red on the blue diagram, and yellow forms in the uppermost room wriggled uncontrollably, while green mists occupied the three interlocking rooms and purple denoted thousands of figures outside of the temple.

"Alright, listen up." The clone cleared his throat, pointing at the room with the yellow figures.

"This is where the children are being held. There seems to be some sort of presence assaulting them, but what we cannot tell. Lord Vader suspects some form of Sith torture installed by the late Emperor." The clone paused awkwardly, as if he had touched on a subject uncomfortable even to himself. He regained his composure quickly, though.

"The only way to enter this place is to go through one of three interlocking rooms underneath, each of which can be entered from a separate outside entrance to the temple." He pointed to the green and purple, respectively.

"Now these figures outside are droid troopers, reactivated from old Separatists factories that have only just been recaptured. It appears the Emperor has commandered these for a personal vendetta to keep these kids locked away in his own personal fortress. Seems he didn't trust clones enough to do the job for him." The trooper seemed to be speaking about his former boss with more confidence and subtle disdain this time, though he still seemed a little uncomfortable at his own little personal rebellion against the deceased authority figure.

"We can insert you guys into the fray relatively close to this place." He looked around the station with no small amount of pride. "We are very good at what we do, sir. That said, we cannot take down over a thousand droids with seven clones and two Jedi, regardless of how rough and tough we think we are. Rule Number Twelve – If you can't win the fight, change the odds."

He paused, and the diagram shifted into motion, showing what was clearly their ship hovering over the army, blowing away large chunks without hesitation and dropping multiple figures off right by the entrance.

"Now the plan is this – we shall direct you two into the catacombs, and then Delta Squad will set up a barricade at the door to cover your backs are then we'll stage a fighting retreat around the temple to draw them away from you. Meanwhile the two of you will traverse these catacombs, reach the center and grab the kids, then exit out this back catacomb to rendezvous with us at the base of the temple." The clone finished laying out the plan.

Obi-Wan leaned back in his chair, stroking his facial hair in deep thought. He nodded and leaned forward once more, looking carefully at the diagram. He pointed at the catacombs underneath the prison.

"Are there any more droids that we will need to take care of in here? It appears to be empty, except for some sort of mist." He asked politely enough.

The clone sighed, gazing at the spot intensely.

"Our sensors don't pick up anything in there, but Lord Vader has insisted that we not enter. He believes that evil spirits haunt the place. And not the type that you could just shoot and forget about." He looked longer at the spot, his eyes burning a hole into it. Was that fear in his eyes?

"Frankly, I agree with him. I would rather face those droids than go in there." He cracked his knuckles, standing up and looking about. He rigidly saluted Obi-Wan, who once again returned the gesture only haphazardly.

"Lord Vader will be arriving soon. I have a few more things to tend to before we reach the surface." The clone turned on his heel, walking towards the edge of the room. He paused for a moment at the door, his eyes once again lingering on the catacombs.

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Good luck in the catacombs down there." The clone told him. As he left, he muttered quietly under his breath -

"You'll need it."


	11. Chapter 11

**16 GRS, Korriban**  
**3 Weeks after the Execution of Order 66**

"R2, prepare for drop off." Anakin informed his droid as they hovered above the large temple on this hellish backwater world. It had taken some serious digging and investigation on the part of Anakin and Padme, and even some help from the 501st, but they finally tracked down this place. The Emperor had moved the kids here as quickly as possible, perhaps foreseeing his own betrayal. Although what purpose they could serve here was entirely questionable, maybe the old coot just wanted them to suffer.

Anakin grimaced, his eyes flashing yellow in anger at the deceased madman. He forced himself to calm down, looking at a picture of his wife next to the cockpit. He sighed, looking about as the starfighter hung lazily above the temple. They were currently in stealth mode, so the droids could not see the human and his robotic ally. All for the best, really.

"Now listen, R2. I'm going to need you to do something for me." Anakin paused, routing multiple new codecs into the starfighter's personal computer system – a little thing he had installed himself for on the fly modifications. After doing the necessary work, he cracked his fingers and looked back out the window, seeing the Republic gunship flying into view.

"Once we land, you're going to follow these coordinates here." He plugged in the coordinates.

"Safe as much ammo as you can along the way, just enough to defend yourself. If necessary also provide covering fire for the soldiers ship, but I don't believe they will need it." He marked the approaching gunship with a friendly FOF tag on the computer system.

"These should get you to the rough area of the power source for these droids. If you can shut them off, that will make things a little easier for the extraction. That's going to be hell on it's own. If things don't work out, I want you to transmit the entire contents of the black box to Padme." He paused, looking back at the picture, then at the ground below them.

He watched as slowly but surely the droids turned and looked at the Republic gunship, and all at once they began firing at the thing. It tried to avoid as much as possible, and it's shield did most of the rest of the work. Already two men were on the guns, providing cover fire as it held up near the temple. Quickly five ropes fell down, and the four soldiers and the man all too familiar to Anakin dropped down to the ground. Taking his cue, he popped the hood, opening the cockpit.

He felt a surge of the force and within moments was launched high into the air, before turning towards the planet below and diving face first towards it. Such a small target was relatively unnoticed by the droids, and he aimed towards halfway up the pyramid. He landed without much fanfare, only small bits of dust kicking up underneath him. The sounds and lights of the firefight before him were a cacophony of destruction.

It made him feel alive to hear it.

He walked slowly forward, reaching the top of the massive doorway that they would enter the temple through. He saw below two clone soldiers providing covering fire while two more worked quickly and desperately to set up an efficient barricade to keep the droids out of the temple once the two Jedi entered. About twenty feet in front of them stood Anakin's old master, twirling away in a deadly dance with the machines – his dual blue blades cut down the slow and inefficient machines like hot butter.

The second lightsaber was instantly recognizable, and the last time Anakin had seen it he had also been on a hell-world much like this, close to the presence of the dark side. While the feeling was simply addicting to be around, he determined to keep his wife and children alive. After that priority were these kids who he had unwittingly signed off to a fate worse than death – eternal torture on a Sith planet. He grimaced at the situation and ran forward, flying into the air. Obi-Wan sensed him easily enough, and within seconds one of the blue lightsabers flew through the air towards the floating Dark Jedi.

He landed with a dull thud right on the head of a droid, completely crushing it's fragile circuitry under his foot. He spun around, eliminating at least five more droids with a single swipe, and then turned to deflecting their mass of blaster fire back at them even as he lifted the parts of their deceased brethren to use as a shield against them. He grinned in satisfaction as there was a shout behind him.

"Master Skywalker, the barricade is operational, all you need to do is enter!" Boss informed him. Already the four clone troopers commonly known as Delta Squad were forming up and inching around the entrance so that they could perform a strafing run across the entire temple in order to distract the droids from the two Jedi. He could not help but admire their bravery and dedication. He waved at them behind his back even as he and Obi-Wan cautiously retreated to the barricade, which was two large machines set up on the side of the entrance.

As soon as they fell behind the line, there was a clicking noise and the machines hummed to life, launching a large blue wall of energy between the two former friends and the army of droids, which at this point was more distracted with the fleeing clone troopers. There was a slight pause as the din of the battle died down – the shield was blocking out even sounds. The two paused to catch their breath from the quick and frenzied fighting, neither really looking at or acknowledging each other for a few moments.

There was a small pause, and the two glanced awkwardly at each other and then at the ominous green mists behind them. The two stood up, both looking each other in the eye.

"Lord Vader?" Obi-Wan inquired. Anakin shrugged in reply.

"It's a useful codename. Keeps the Empire off of my family's trail. Maybe one day I could buy some land and really become a Lord." Anakin rattled off awkwardly. Obi-Wan chuckled in reply.

"You? Settling down?" He shook his head. "I don't see that happening any time soon."

There was a pause, much longer this time. Both felt slight pangs of loss. But both also felt that their side was unequivocally in the right. Anakin offered his hand to the his old master.

"Thank you for returning my lightsaber." This time Obi-Wan shrugged.

"Yoda always said that these weapons only fought for the most noble of causes. I'd say saving some kids from torture is a pretty good cause." Anakin looked down strangely at the lightsaber in his hands, feeling as if it suddenly became much heavier with that maxim in mind. Strangely he had never heard it before, which was odd.

Of course, Anakin had not joined the Order until he was nine, so the basic fundamentals of Jedi living that was taught to younglings went entirely over his head. He sighed, looking around them and breathing in deeply. Obi-Wan gestured to the impenetrable green mist that was ahead of them.

"What wickedness lies in there? I can sense a great power. But it is entirely black, even blacker than the Emperor was himself. Even blacker than you were on Mustafar." There was a pause at the end of the sentence, as both of them tried to overlook their spiritual differences. Anakin frowned deeply looking into the mist.

"It's the Dark Side."

"What?"

"This was the origin, the source of it all. Sure, there were Fallen Jedi before, but this was the start of the Sith, the beginning of true evil. This is the stew from which hell poured forth, devouring many worlds." Anakin lipped his licks. "And providing ultimate power for those few who could wield it's concentrated wrath." He gripped his lightsaber tightly, and Obi-Wan couldn't help but look at him a little worriedly.

"This is everything and nothing. Palpatine visited this place regularly to draw more power from it's depths." Anakin looked around, and both him and Obi-Wan began to notice the many many decayed bodies lying about on the floor. There was a crunch as one of them accidentally stomped an ancient skeleton's head in.

"Well, that certainly explains how he became powerful enough to cloud the entire Jedi Order's foresight, despite our best efforts to see into his plans." Obi-Wan mused, even as they delved deeper and deeper into the place. By his calculations they should be nearing the connecting point of two different catacombs.

Suddenly and without warning, a wall came upon them, funneling the place into two different directions. Two of the catacombs, waiting for them. Obi-Wan suddenly felt a great sense of dread overcome him, and he looked at Anakin, hoping for more information. Anakin looked at him, the fear very evident in his face.

"That's all I know."

Before they could continue their conversation, there was a disturbing hiss in the green darkness before them. Both warriors looked into this hellish place, their eyes darting about feverishly. They simultaneously froze upon seeing the forms before them, one in each catacomb.

On Obi-Wan's side was a creature with a black and red head, littered with various amounts of spikes. The yellow eyes and sharp teeth added to the intimidation factor, and the rest of the creatures form was concealed by his dark black cloak. Darth Maul.

On Anakin's side was a man who looked very aged in his years, but not in the same way Palpatine had been, but rather in a dignified manner, almost like a politician. He stood erect, his own official black garb and his black cape bringing out his bright white hair and giving him an air of cunning. He grinned devilishly. Darth Tyrannus.

While this was happening, the green mist seemed to have an effect on the two Jedi, making them both feel as if they were small children. They felt both completely helpless and completely terrified at the situation before them, as each of them faced the monster that had stolen their innocence and robbed each of them of something very important and dear to them.

They both looked at each other, realizing what they had to do.

Obi-Wan grabbed Anakin's hand, and who gripped his roughly in return. They pulled into an embrace, and for a brief moment both felt in total safety.

And then, they did what any sensible Jedi would do – they spun around, completely switching their positions. The two phantoms didn't seem to care one way or the other, but the four warriors in the catacombs all lit their swords simultaneously. Anakin grinned at the idea of battle even as he and Darth Maul approached each other, even while on the other side of the wall Obi-Wan and Darth Tyrannus were circling each other, calculating looks in their eyes.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the catacombs, a dark form silently entered, watching carefully.


	12. Chapter 12

There was a harsh sizzling sound as the two blades connected, the red and blue lights creating an amazing technicolor show on the faces of the two fighters. In many respects they were the same, as their harsh and deadly fighting style showed quite eagerly their love for battle. While one was a red-skinned horned maniac and the other a normal human being, their psychotic grins showed their main similarities quite well. The young Darth Vader and the deceased Darth Maul both loved battle to an unhealthy level.

If each Sith Lord is characterized by one sin, they share in common that most feared one of rage. It makes both of them rash, and had already lead to the death of one of them. They simply cared too much about and overreacted to the universe around them. As Anakin received a headbutt to the face, breaking their momentary clash of swords, he was reminded all too well of how alive he was. And Maul was not. That much was clear, he had been executed by Obi-Wan years ago.

Anakin grunted, taking multiple steps back and twirling his sword in a flourish. He glared at the opposing Sith Lord, clutching his sword tightly. His opponent simply grinned that demonic grin of his, swirling his own sword impatiently. Anakin screeched loudly, flying across the room at his opponent. Their swords connected again, and this time they went faster than any non-Force user could even see, their swords darting this way and that, always coming dangerously close to the vital pieces of each fighter but never truly connecting, always being blocked or parried away at the last possible moment.

The easiest comparison to their struggle was that of two lions fighting over a kill. Both were considered wild predators, and their fearsome might in battle left few standing at the end of the day. Without fail they could generally strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, and that was just the way they liked.

A block, a strike, a blow, a dodge. On and on the fight went, both striving their hardest to simply land a hit on the other party. Maul spun in a circle, his two sided blade very nearly cutting Anakin in half. He bent over backwards, the blade sailing right above his nose. Only by the force's guidance was he even able to retain his balance during this. As soon as the twirling stopped, Anakin rose again, delivering a harsh kick to the ghost's chest, sending him a few feet backwards.

He stepped towards the horned beast, his sword raised high as he screamed at the apparition. Maul raised one blade, blocking the blow, and just as quickly tilted his sword in an attempt to cut off one of Anakin's legs. Seeing this move, Anakin force pushed Maul away and took a step back, so that the curved arc of the red lightsaber narrowly missed him. Maul took the advantage, though, pressing forward with deadly fury as he struck at each of Anakin's shoulders, only to be blocked each time. He spun around, trying for each of Anakin's sides, but kept hitting Anakin's bright blue blade.

Anakin swung forward, his sword upside down, and Maul leaned out of the way, sending his own sword towards Anakin's thigh. It missed, Anakin's own lightsaber guiding up the side of his own body and past it. The two locked sabers again, giving them a chance to glare hatefully into each others eyes.

"You're a sappy weakling, undeserving of the title of Sith Lord." Maul seethed at Anakin. This obviously did not make the emotional boy-man very happy, and in a rage he threw Maul back, running towards him in blind fury. The dead Sith grinned in anticipation as he blocked each of Anakin's unthinking rampage. Anakin felt a small sense of pride as he drove the deadly Darth across the dark catacombs.

But it was all a trick. They reached the wall on the far side of the catacomb, and Anakin thought he might have him on the ropes. But Maul continued backing up as he had been for the past few seconds, literally walking backwards up the wall of the catacomb, much to Anakin's complete shock. He moved faster now, disappearing up the wall and into the mist, where Anakin could clearly hear him moving about on the ceiling. He looked up in confusion as the green mist obscured his senses. He could barely see the floor, much less the ceiling where Maul was not parading around.

Anakin looked left and right and could find nothing. If not for the Force warning him, his head would have been cleaved right off of his body from the smashing blow as Maul's sword arced through the misty darkness right towards Anakin's cheek. In the last moment he brought up his sword to defend himself, but he was less prepared than he usually might be, and the blow literally sent him falling backwards.

Before he had even hit the ground Maul fell down upon him, his foot crushing Anakin's chest. He heaved uncontrollably as the breath was knocked out of his lungs, and raised his lightsaber desperately as Maul made multiple quick strikes towards any and all of Anakin's vital organs. For the first time a while Anakin truly felt what it was to fear, and even as he experienced it he felt the power draining from him and empowering the misty field around him. In one last desperate move Anakin struck right at Maul's center of mass.

There was a slice as Maul's saber was cut right down the middle, deactivating one side of it. Before Anakin could take much advantage of the situation, the fearsome creature had disappeared once more into the mist. He sighed, getting up onto his feet quickly and looking about. It felt as if the mist was closing in, both literally and metaphorically. His vision was getting worse by the moment as the physical mist obscured his vision, and additionally he felt his force abilities weakening as the spiritual mist shrouded his brain in darkness.

Left, right, front, back. Anakin could not find his opponent, and he was becoming quite disturbed by the whole situation. He noticed that while before things had been completely silent, there was now a strange sucking sound as if the catacomb around him was literally breathing in. But what? Was it the mist?

His soul?

He frowned. No, he was a Jedi Knight and a Sith Lord to boot. The galaxy would be crushed under his boot heel. He had practically won the Clone Wars on his own, he thought. He had gone too long and too far to save his family to simply die trying to save these children. They would be eternally useful in his constant struggle to protect his family from the multitude of dangers that the galaxy as a whole presented to them. They could be the commanders in his battle to gain control, to stomp out anything that would dare threaten him.

He screamed his lungs out, his cries echoing through the dark and misty catacomb. He felt rage and hate fill his soul. He hated Maul, the personification of this thrice damned room of evil. He would not be defeated by some petty criminal that even the weak and hesitant Obi-Wan could defeat in his youthful days as a simple Padawan.

Out of the mist came a bright red blade, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Maul was once again directly in front of Anakin, his bright yellow eyes and psychotic grin coming dangerously close. He wasn't even breathing. As he gazed into Anakin's eyes, doing his best to convey a sense of dread to the boy.

"I will not surrender." Anakin forced out, emphasizing each individual word as he easily matched Maul's forceful blow, even slowly pushing the Sith Lord back with his stubborn strength.

He felt pain fill his entire body. But it was not from any blow that Maul had delivered to him. As his own rage increased, the mist itself seemed to draw towards Anakin and infest his body. He cried out in anguish and suffering, even as Maul took a few steps back. The mist was becoming clearer now, even as Anakin collapsed in pain.

He fell on his knees, and Maul cackled over him, his saber raised for the killing blow. He paused as Anakin raised his head, burning yellow eyes searing into Maul's own. There seemed to be a dark presence now about the boy as he was overcome by his darker instincts. He rose quickly, screaming in utter hatred as he assaulted Maul.

It was too fast and too powerful for even the deceased master swordsman to deal with, and at long last Anakin delivered the first real wound of the battle, cutting Maul's face narrowly and creating a large gash across it. The Sith Lord fell over like a bumbling idiot, retreating in absolute terror at the bestial force of darkness before him – Darth Vader himself.

Anakin threw his sword down, directly at Maul's chest. Unfortunately, there was no satisfying crunch, or sizzle, or scream as the damned thing was erased from existence. In fact, Maul simply disappeared, fading away into nothing as if he had never been there. Anakin breathed in for a few moments, catching his breath. He wondered why Maul had simply disappeared, when he had barely struck him.

And then the realization came to him: It wasn't his apparition, it was Obi-Wan's. He turned on his heel quickly, moving for the place he had come in from, silently wondering if his former master had been slain by the personification of Anakin's own fear. Even as he moved away from the end of the catacomb, the dark figure stalking about moved again, following at a distance.


	13. Chapter 13

**16 GRS, Korriban**  
**3 Weeks after the Execution of Order 66**

Obi-Wan stared down his opponent with a fierce intensity, swinging his blade lazily back and forth as he and the Sith Lord Darth Tyrannus circled each other over and over again. He knew mentally that this man was dead, but his eyes deceived him. Indeed, even the force gave him the feeling that this was the genuine article before him. It felt similar to how he felt towards the force ghost of Qui Gon Jinn that he had encountered some time after the duel on Mustafar.

He shuddered at the thought, looking behind him to make sure Anakin would not stab him in the back right here. At this moment Tyrannus found it prudent to strike forward. Luckily Obi-Wan was in tune with the force and saw this blow coming. His blade flew up to deflect the hit before it even got near him. Realizing the magnitude of this battle as the very real blade bounced off of his own, Obi-Wan entirely gave way to the force, letting himself get lost in the stream of energy. It was just enough to keep the darkness around him from engulfing his very soul.

With steady purpose and sure aim, he took one step towards Dooku. Striking slowly, once at the right side of Dooku's head, then his left hip, then his right ankle. He repeated the form that Qui-Gon had taught him years ago, and he and Dooku conducted a graceful yet deadly dance across the room. Each strike, parry, and counter brought the other teetering close to the edge of death, but neither brought a clear advantage to the field.

"You're moving like an old man. Qui-Gon would be disappointed." Dooku bantered, striking towards Obi-Wan's groin.

Obi-Wan ignored the insult, not giving it a moments thought. It had no control over him, because he had control over himself and was strong with the force. He moved faster now, letting loose a barrage of attacks, left, right, slant, center. All along Dooku's axis he played, even going for angles that would be hard for him to reach with his bent saber-handle. He was going to make the man work for every block, and his quick and determined pace gave the Sith Lord little room to strike back.

He continued his offensive without any delay, forcing step back after step back for the opposing Sith Lord, who strangely did not seem to be that worried about his clearly failing battle. Obi-Wan drove him back successfully, not experiencing much of a challenge. He chuckled to himself as he thought of how easy it would be to slay this apparition. He was simply waiting for his chance to finally deal the killing blow, removing that smirk from Dooku's face.

Finally he thought he saw an opening, and he struck right for Dooku – who then promptly vanished into dark vapor. Obi-Wan paused for a moment, utterly confused and wondering if he would really win that easy. Suddenly the force alerted him, and he spun around and bent over backwards, narrowly avoiding a rather harsh swing coming from Dooku, who had mysteriously appeared behind him. Obi-Wan struck – and yet more mist. Dooku appeared behind him again, and he spun around to counter – hitting more mist.

He looked around more diligently now, seeing that game that was about to be played. He was suddenly alerted by the force of his impending doom, and looked down to see a grinning Dooku between his legs. He parried the incoming blow, stepping back quickly and feeling a small bit of fear at how close that was. The vapor disappeared, and Dooku landed right on his back, placing Obi-Wan in a chokehold. He quickly broke it, throwing the older man off and hacking at him with his saber – only to meet yet more vapor. He was quickly becoming frustrated and not at all amused with the situation. He appeared behind Obi-Wan, in front of him, to his right, to his left, above him, below him. On and on and on they went.

Obi-Wan groaned, sensing a pattern as the Sith Lord literally teleported to each side of Obi-Wan, and he was forced to counter from every angle conceivable as the Darth went on the offensive. It wasn't long before he began to tire, and when that moment came Dooku seized upon it like any Sith Lord would, and went for Obi-Wan's head with all of his might. He ducked backwards, but the lightsaber blade graced his face, and he yelled in excruciating pain as it burned and then cauterized a hole in his cheek.

He fell backwards, pain striking his face as Dooku went for his legs. Only by the help of the Force was Obi-Wan able to keep blocking these moves in the pain he was in. He blocked two successive ankle shots, then parried two more shots to his ribs. Dooku reached out and kicked Obi-Wan squarely in the chest, knocking the air out of him and launching him across the room.

He focused as hard as he could, slowing his descent and landing on his feet, carried by a breeze. He closed his eyes, remembering Qui-Gon's final moments before he faced death against Darth Maul. He would give himself entirely to the will of the force. Bending over on his knees, he deactivated his lightsaber, even as Dooku advanced on him steadily, lightsaber waving around like the head of a cobra preparing to strike with deadly accuracy. He smirked, closing his eyes and thinking on the force.

If this would be the end, it was the will of the force, and he would submit to that even at his own detriment. He meditated for a solid thirty seconds, and slowly began to realize that Dooku should have killed him by now.

He opened his eyes slowly, and was overjoyed to see Anakin slowly approaching him, a look of worry on his face. Obi-Wan chuckled, rising to greet his brother and totally ignorant of the depressive air around them as he was encapsulated by the light side of the force. He did not notice the fear on the boy's face as he passed, and he turned to follow behind him.

On their way out the door, he could have sworn he saw a shadow move by one of the various exits to the arena, but upon second glance he could not find anything. He shrugged, believing it to be yet more mind tricks played by the hellish tomb, and decided to move forward quickly with the mission that he and Anakin had set out to accomplish.


	14. Chapter 14

**16 GRS, Korriban**  
**3 Weeks after the Execution of Order 66**

The bodies were heaped a little higher by the exit, forcing Obi-Wan and Anakin to take very long strides to avoid having anything touch them above the waist. Even then it was very precarious, with not a few bodies hanging from the ceiling or burned onto the sides of the walls. The entire ordeal created a very depressing scent, even as the green mist faded farther into the corridor they were now walking down.

The Jedi were only vaguely aware that they were headed towards the dreaded center of this entire evil catacomb, which had devoured it's fair share of people – both Force sensitives and "normal people" alike. Many a ritual had happened towards this end, and they became aware of a faint purple glow coming from a closed door at the end of the hallway. Presumably this was where Palpatine had spent much of his time.

Indeed, Obi-Wan steadily became aware of the fact that a small part of his mind was clearing, not even having realized it had been clouded. This must have been the center of operations, where Palpatine had clouded the entire Jedi Order. It was certainly frightening how much power this place held. With the stench of death in the air, both men mentally prepared themselves for the very likely sight of multiple dead children at the end of this damned hallway.

They came to the door, both pausing. Obi-Wan observed the various Sith runes on the sides and front of the entrance.

"It appears to be some Dark Side artifact. Perhaps we can cut through it-" He began to banter, when Anakin reached forward, touching one of the small pictures etched into the sandstone. It began to glow a dark red, and Obi-Wan was very aware of the evil energy emanating from his partner. The door hissed, and with a short pause slid open smoothly. Obi-Wan placed his hand on Anakin's shoulder.

"Anakin-" But his arm was quickly thrown off, the yellow eyed warrior turned to gaze at him.

"Kids first, questions later." He forced out, though his voice sounded deeper, almost demonic. It was clear that the dark side had a certain sway over him in this place. Obi-Wan gathered his light side energies, tapping into the Living Force of his old master and focusing on the situation at hand. He would take it by ear. He smirked at the triviality of the thought.

Upon walking ever so carefully into the room, they found a sight that was unexpected. The nine children were lined up on the walls, each laid out on a stone slab. They were asleep, but their squirming made clear the awful nightmares they were experiencing. One eight year old moaned in fear at the end of the room. Obi-Wan grimaced, his heart going out to the children.

The two warriors both went to a bed side, each shaking awake their respective child.

"Wake up, Padawan!" Obi-Wan said gently to the first one on the left, a small tan boy with sandy hair. His eyes opened slowly, and upon seeing Master Kenobi himself he gave a great smile, reaching up and hugging the Jedi before him.

Meanwhile, Anakin's child, a small black haired boy with porcelain skin opened his eyes quickly, looking everywhere about him and becoming instantly alert. His eyes finally landed on Skywalker. A small smirk crossed his lips, and he turned and jumped out of his bed.

"Thank the Force! I was afraid we would live forever in that hell." He said coldly. The other boy nodded in agreement, getting out of his bed as well. The two Jedi moved on to the next pair, waking them up as well. The one on the left was a girl with a similar complexion to the first boy, but with long flowing brunette hair. She opened her eyes gracefully and was soon on her feet again, if unsteadily. The other boy on the left was blue-skinned, with a bright golden mane and pitch black eyes. He looked up curiously at the Jedi, and got out of his slab.

The two Jedi paused, feeling something in the air and looking at each other. They pushed the four awake Padawans behind them, drawing their lightsabers and looking at the far end of the room, where another door began to slide open.

Obi-Wan squinted, looking at thing before them as a dark form crept in through the temple door.

"Master Jerec?" He asked, very confused at the whole situation. Jerec was a Jedi archeologist sent on long term deployment to the Unknown Regions to search for Ancient Knowledge pertaining to a missing archive that was lost in the New Sith Wars. He titled his head curiously, while Anakin's hand tightened around his own blue lightsaber.

"Step back from the children, or I'll cut your throat!" Anakin raged, walking up to the older and more experienced Jedi, his yellow eyes flashing in a threatening manner. Jerec stood calmly before them all, his arms folded in front of him.

"I must say, Kenobi, you've done a rather lackluster job of training this boy. Why, he was a mere lad when I left for the Unknown Regions. He hasn't seemed to have learned much self control in the interim." Jerec sighed. "It's really a shame."

Obi-Wan frowned, slightly wounded by the personal insult from this man who until a few moments ago he had respected as a great scholar of the Force.

"You know him?" Anakin asked accusingly.

"Yes, he was a Master when you first became my Padawan." Obi-Wan explained. Jerec sighed in apathy, using a single finger to push back the headstrong Skywalker, who surprisingly slid back quite some ways.

"I heard there were some Padawans trapped her and that a certain Sith Lord was coming to collect his bounty." Jerec explained calmly. He looked Anakin up and down, though Obi-Wan knew that he couldn't see. At least not like he could. He simply saw force auras, which made him rather apathetic to those not gifted like him. He sneered at Skywalker.

"I must say, I wouldn't have guessed it would have been your Padawan who would slay the dreaded Sith Lord we all feared so long ago. Must not have been that powerful after all." Jerec informed them snidely.

There was an awkward pause as the three Jedi eyed each other.

"He probably intended to slay you right after you helped him get through the labrynth. I heard the runt killed Palpatine. If you paid any attention in my history lessons, you would have realized that makes him the new Master of the Sith. Hardly the most loyal of allies. I'm thoroughly shocked that you put aside such weighty moral differences for mere politics." Jerec spat out the word derisively.

Obi-Wan looked at Anakin, as if questioning his integrity all over again. The guilty way in which the other Jedi avoided his piercing gaze, and the yellow eyes denoting his empowering by the dark side...

Obi-Wan pulled out his lightsaber to bear, pointing it directly at Anakin's throat.

"I demand that you answer these accusations." Kenobi pleaded with his brother, with the underlying plea that he not betray him so deeply a second time. Anakin's strained face did not give him much hope, and after a moments hesitation the boy's jaw hardened.

"I couldn't bear to let them suffer in such a cruel manner like they had been." He paused, chewing on his own words. "But I also wasn't willing to let the Jedi continue brainwashing them." He declared boldly, his own lightsaber coming up to push Kenobi's out of the dangerous position by his face. He silently noticed that the burn on his former Master's cheek was exactly where he had struck Maul.

Obi-Wan gasped, trying to take it all in. First Jerec mysteriously appearing, then Anakin's second betrayal? He almost couldn't take it. His sword wavering as he stepped back uncertainly. He saw the same confusion on Anakin's face, as if even he wasn't sure that what he just said was his intent before they entered this room. The children simply looked back and forth, utterly confused.

Jerec raised his hand, and the door behind the two Jedi closed. They both looked at him, alarmed. He simply shrugged, and suddenly the entire structure began to shake. The other children woke up, all looking around with worry about their faces.

"What's going on?" One of the ones right next to Jerec asked. He smiled, petting them on the head calmly.

"Calm yourself, child. I have set this dreaded sanctuary of death on it's final course to destruction. It will harm no man after today. Come, I shall lead the way out of these tombs of evil." And with a quick flourish he turned back to the way he came. Obi-Wan and Anakin looked about, at the kids, at each other. Even as rocks fell precariously around them, the children began running after Jerec. Obi-Wan glared at Anakin.

After a few tense moments, they both deactivated their lightsabers, heading towards the door and following up the procession of children. As they ducked and weaved around the various bodies, they quickly came into the catacombs once more, this time into the third and final one that they had previously avoided. The children ran quickly in fear, as each one was assaulted by their own personal manifestation of evil. It was a bit harrowing to see, all the while Jerec calmly continued through the room. It was as if this dreaded mist had no effect on him.

Anakin narrowly avoided a fallen stone, only for another one to crash into his shoulder. He groaned in pain, but continued on, feeling badly for the children but having no way to help them but to usher them out of the room. As they neared the door, he saw a figure in black standing by the entrance. It appeared to be a black cyborg, breathing heavily. And while he made no moves towards the group, he seemed to be eying Anakin strangely.

A quick glance at Obi-Wan told him that he was the only one who saw the form. The figure slightly raised his hand, and Anakin felt a crushing pressure on his windpipe. He felt to his knees, unable to move as the figure overcame him. Obi-Wan looked back at him, a strange look in his own eyes. After a short pause, he then turned, leaving his former friend to oblivion in these caves.

Kenobi had chosen his side, and he had determined to see that the dark side was eradicated from the galaxy, even if that meant leaving his friend in these caves. Still, tears streamed down his face even as he exited the catacombs. Anakin fell onto his face, completely unable to breathe and entirely abandoned by everyone.

As they neared the door, the dark haired boy turned, seeing the fallen master. Overcome by a sense of duty to his savior, he turned and ran back towards his master. Obi-Wan made a move to catch the boy, but Jerec grabbed onto his collar roughly.

"We have no time!" He bellowed.

Even as he said this, a large boulder came crashing down, completely blocking the entrance back into the catacombs. Obi-Wan banged on it a couple of times, screaming in frustration. He was not comfortable with the idea of leaving a child to this cruel fate.

"We saved the ones we could, now come along!" Jerec pulled him along with him, and Kenobi had no choice but to follow the other Jedi Master to his own personal spacecraft, which was sitting past some bushes by the edge of the temple, right outside the entrance. He ushered the children, now numbering at eight, into the spacecraft. He was about to step in himself when he saw the clones rush around the corner, and the other ship come into view.

The one called Boss looked at him, then at the spaceship, then at the crashing temple. There was an awkward pause as the two stared at each other, and then the clones rushed towards the temple, eager to save their own personal messiah – Skywalker.

Obi-Wan looked down ashamedly, already regretting his decision to give his friends over to the mist. It was assuredly be a decision that would haunt him the rest of his days. He took a timid step back, and the door closed instantly on him. A few moments later, the ship was rising, taking them into the atmosphere.

He hoped he would never see this damned planet again.


	15. Chapter 15

**16 GrS, Phraedus**

**3 Weeks after the Execution of Order 66**

"I can't believe what I have done!" Obi-Wan cried in anguish, now at peace in the back room of Jerec's ship, the Phraedus. The blackened hull and the dim yellow lighting hardly improved the mood, even as Obi-Wan rested on the nearest seat. His head sank slowly into his hands, and after a few moments of terrible silence a loud short sob broke from the Jedi Master's throat.

He was there for quite some time, alone with his thoughts. In all of his confusion, he still turned to the Force. Tears still streaming down his face, Obi-Wan folded his legs into a meditating position, releasing himself into the bounds of the force. He did not quite understand what had happened, and he couldn't help but feel unclean from the act, despite it's necessity. The Sith had no place in the galaxy.

He sighed. There was blood on his hands now. But it was different from the blood of the war. No, this was different. This was his _friend_. The Force calmed him, and slowly the intense contortions of his face subsided and he was calm. Almost imperceptibly, he began floating slightly, a sign of his perfect unison with the force.

He and Yoda had both spoken back and forth, and there was something different about the force in the weeks after Order 66. Yes, it had been an atrocious and devilish act. But all the same, the remaining Jedi had noticed an extreme increase in their own abilities, much beyond that of before. It seemed that perhaps, despite all the dogma, that the Force was finite, and could only be stretched so far. Obi-Wan felt as if he had switched from drinking out of a puddle to drinking out of an ocean.

And it was unbelievable refreshing. He smiled, even as in the other room Jerec put the children to sleep. Obi-Wan opened his eyes calmly, realizing that he would need to report this to Master Yoda. Of course, he did not have his channel. The Alliance did not think it wise for everyone to be in contact with other people. Thus there was only one contact per agent, so that in the case of capture it would be simple to cut off the line. Obi-Wan's contact just so happened to be Bail Organa, who was fast becoming the Jedi's friend.

Obi-Wan, having already ended up in the conference room, approached the table and plugged in the coordinates for Bail's contact. There was a few moments, and in the background he could hear the quiet whirring of the ship's ion engine. Finally, the large blue hologram lit up, showing Bail Organa. He looked haggard, and clearly stressed out. Obi-Wan was aware that he and his wife had been attempting to have a child for a while, and it had caused great stress upon their family.

"Ben." Bail said, using the Jedi's code name.

"Organa, I've got very important information to pass along to Yoda." He informed his double.

Bail nodded, leaning in close to the screen and whispering, "Look, the contact on Corellia reported back to me. Said he hadn't heard from you at all. Is everything okay?"

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. He was never supposed to meet those clones. He was lucky to be alive at the moment.

"Yes, Senator. I'm perfectly fine. But I do have urgent news for Yoda. Please patch me through." Organa looked at him carefully for a few moments, and then the Senator relayed the coordinates, which would only work for the next hour. Yoda was such a high priority target that the communicator given to him by the alliance had a constant randomizer built it. Very high end stuff, that took a considerable amount of money even from a fortunate family such as the Organa's.

The picture flickered, bringing up the small form of Yoda after a few moments.

"Master Kenobi! What news bring you?" The Master greeted him heartily. Obi-Wan nodded in return to the greeting.

"Yoda, it is good to see you. I have very interesting news to bring to you." He informed the little green fellow quickly. The man looked at him, his patient posture showing that he was listening. Obi-Wan breathed out slowly, steadying his breath and his thoughts.

"I encountered some of Anakin's agents on Corellia. They led me to a Sith world where Palpatine had imprisoned eight Jedi younglings." He saw the other man tense up, aware of what he would think if he knew he had been working together with Skywalker. He continued.

"I followed him into the place of imprisonment, and upon discovering the children was intercepted by Master Jerec. The tomb crashed down upon Skywalker, and I have escaped with Jerec and the younglings." He explained.

Yoda grunted, thinking deeply.

"Hmm." He paused. "Interesting developments, these are." He placed his tiny clawed hand under his chin, taking in all the information. He moved it back to the staff, the small hologram looking up at Obi-Wan.

"Jerec, sentenced to exile, he was." Yoda explained. Obi-Wan's mouth dropped.

"I thought he was assigned to recon in the Unknown Regions." He replied, forcing himself to remain calm. Yoda nodded.

"Too sure of himself, he was. Bad influence on Padawans, too. Assigned to find Valley of the Jedi." Yoda paused and smiled, as if remembering a joke. "No Valley, there is." Obi-Wan turned slowly, looking towards the door. He could perhaps be in a ship with a Dark Jedi.

"What should I do, Master Yoda? His power is impressive. I couldn't defeat him in a stand up fight." Obi-Wan asked the older Jedi. Yoda shook his head, taking on a teacherly pose.

"Fight him, you should not. Misguided, not Sith, is he. Unknown Regions calmed him, perhaps. Act diplomatically, you should." Yoda informed him. Obi-Wan breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he would not have to move from one battle to the next. He needed someone that he could trust after all that had just happened with Anakin. He nodded at the Jedi Master.

"I will try to get him to drop us off at Alderaan, then I shall transport the kids to your location." Yoda nodded, agreeing with the plan. Obi-Wan clicked the button, and the hologram disappeared. He stood looking at the spot for a moment, and slowly became aware of the presence of another Jedi behind him. He turned slowly, greeting by the sight of Jerec standing in the doorway. He was a sneaky one.

"Yoda always was a little old fashioned." Jerec told him, smiling slightly. It looked very unnatural, like a robot trying to smile or a dog baring it's teeth.

"I thank you greatly for your assistance, Master Jerec. Without your help Anak- I mean Vader - would surely have stabbed me in the back before too long." He nodded graciously to the strange Jedi.

Jerec bowed gracefully, as if he had put on a show, before silently crossing the room. He reached a small spot on the other side of the wall, reaching up and placing his finger on one of the lines in the wall. There was a hiss, and a small compartment opened. Most of them looked like normal holocrons, but some of them were strangely pyramid shaped.

"I must say, you should gain more information on the situation before you rush into battle so guilelessly. One axiom that I have always found true is that knowledge is power." He informed Obi-Wan. The last phrase dripped from his mouth with such conviction, it was easy to see that he had been trained by Jocasta, the Jedi librarian. She passed on a thirst for knowledge to all of her pupils.

"I certainly will, Master Jerec." Obi-Wan paused. "If you could drop the younglings and I off at Alderaan, I would be most indebted to your services." Jerec looked over at him curiously.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to do that." Jerec said, his voice monotone. Obi-Wan was taken aback.

"Why not?"

"Because, with the Jedi Archives eliminated, I do not exist to the Empire. It is my intent to present myself as an informed but non-Force empowered citizen, and live on Coruscant. These children deserve to live in the luxury of the Galactic capitol after what they have suffered in those dreadful tombs." He paused on the word, though there was no emotion in his voice.

"I believe that it would be in their best interests to live in a city and not in a cave." His voice dripped with contempt at the word.

"Surely you would not deny them a reprieve from their sufferings?" Jerec continued. "Besides, I shall use my position to place the younglings in positions of power among the Empire. I believe your little alliance is in need of more friends in high positions?"

"But surely their Jedi training must continue!" Obi-Wan responded. Jerec scoffed at him.

"I am certain I am more qualified for that job than you are, Kenobi. We wouldn't want them all ending up as murdering Sith Lords. I don't think I'd have the coldness to put all of them down like you did with yours." Jerec shot back. Obi-Wan frowned, deeply wounded by the statements.

"Yoda will not be happy with this. I would hope that a man as educated as yourself would see the sense in being reasonable." He said to Jerec. The man paused, looking at him as if he had been personally attacked by that statement. He seemed to look at Obi-Wan for a moment, and there was a tense silence.

"Three."

"What?"

"You may take three of the younglings. Your pick."

"Now you're bartering the children? As if they are property?" Obi-Wan asked incredulously.

"Do not argue with me, Kenobi. You are lucky that you are allowed to take any of the children, considering that without my help you would not have been able to save any of them." Jerec shot back, a small amount of fire in his voice. Obi-Wan looked at him, his jaw set.

"Very well." He forced out, not happy with the situation. Jerec smiled at him, then turned on his heel and made his way out of the room. He paused at the door.

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Obi-Wan. I have missed the Jedi." Jerec said, very sincerely. Obi-Wan sat there for a few moments. This man was a huge conundrum to him. Not receiving a response, Jerec finished his walk, leaving the room. The door shut quickly behind him, and he was gone.


	16. Chapter 16

**17 GrS, Dagobah**  
**6 Months after the Execution of Order 66**

There were more people than he expected there to be. Obi-Wan looked across the fire at Yoda, nodding in assent. Yoda returned the favor, dropping out of his meditative state, which he had been locked into for the past week or so. He had apparently discovered some great, terrible secret, one that would greatly affect their war effort against the Empire. Jerec had disappeared some time after dropping Obi-Wan on Alderaan many months ago.

Bail had decided it best that they keep Jerec from knowing the location of the Jedi, which happened to be here, on Dagobah. Obi-Wan had agreed, and they had even decided to wait a few weeks before traveling there, in case Jerec was tracking him. In the few short moments he had seen it, Bail had taken multiple scans of it, and they found it to be a unique class of starship, known as a Prowler, which would be practically invisible to all other ships.

Obi-Wan looked behind him to see the children sleeping in a nearby hut which Yoda had constructed out of clay. Bail offered modern facilities, but Yoda had been so shaken by Order 66 that he wished to retreat into the safety of tradition. Nothing unknown could pass before his sight. And while Obi-Wan could understand this train of thought in the eight hundred year old Jedi, he was moving in a totally opposite direction. He had come to embrace the Living Force of his old Master Qui-Gon Jinn, while Yoda had pulled closer to the old Jedi tenets.

Being the only two remaining members of the Jedi Council, this created some interesting diversity. Hence this meeting had been called. Obi-Wan looked about the fire, to see the other Jedi Masters who had been gathered to them – Roan Shryne, Bol Chatak, Rahm Kota, Kento Marek, Tsui Choi, and Ma'kis'shaalas. He and Yoda had jointly picked this group as the most trust-worthy. In some cases one or the other Jedi Master was unhappy with the others pick, but this was still a good group. Each of them had connections to at least one other Jedi, allowing the contents of this meeting to spread to the remnants of the Jedi Order swiftly.

"You all are aware of the events of the last six months. The Jedi Order was betrayed by my own Padawan - Anakin Skywalker – who in league with the Dark Lord Sidious enacted Order 66 and destroyed the majority of the order." Obi-Wan paused, breathing in slowly at this revelation. It was a heinous crime to admit to, but to put it out there freed him being controlled by his guilt.

"As was the Sith way, Skywalker turned upon his master. A short time later, I combated him on both Mustafar and Korriban. In this second battle I and Master Jerec left him to die in a collapse of the old Sith Temple." Another pause. The other Jedi were watching him intently, including Yoda himself.

"It is my belief that the Sith Order has been defeated. That said, Yoda has deemed Master Jerec a potential threat to the Jedi Order, thus his absence from this meeting. We rescued nine children on Korriban – one died in the tunnels, and Jerec insisted that he take five of them with him. The remaining three are behind us." Obi-Wan motioned behind him, and the other Jedi's looked behind him as well.

"Ah, one of them is of the same species as Master Farr." Master Choi mused, a slight smile on his face. He was referring to the blue one, whose eyes were closed in a deep sleep. The other two Padawans were normal humans – a boy and a girl.

"To discuss the future of the Jedi Order, we gather." Yoda took over the conversation, as Obi-Wan's gaze lingered on the children. They could very well be the future of the universe. A future that Master Jerec now also had a hand in shaping. He couldn't read the man very well, but Yoda's warnings had given him a bad feeling about the man. He looked into the sky.

"I believe we should directly attack the Empire. Without Palpatine it is weak, we must strike it down while we have the chance." Kota put in his three cents.

"Already attacked, Obi-Wan has. Growing stronger, the Empire does." Yoda returned.

"If they've already eliminated most of the Order, I don't see much hope for the eight of us." Roan entered the conversation, folding his arms across his chest. He had always been a rather militant one, but a great Jedi, to be sure.

"I don't think we should rush into an attack without planning." Bol Chatak added. Obi-Wan noted that she was Zabrak, the same race as Darth Maul. He shuddered, remembering the Labyrinth. There was a pause in the group, as they all thought.

"Each day we sit in inaction, the Empire crushes more and more proud races under it's bootheel." The pointy faced Ma'kis cut in. Kento seemed to look up at this, as if he had been faded in and out of the conversation before.

"We must not strike at the Empire in anger or vengeance. That is the way of the Dark Side." Yoda spoke sagefully. Tsui Choi nodded his head in agreement.

"I understand what you are saying, Master Choi." Obi-Wan began, realizing that this might descend into an unending debate on the ethics of violence. They had no time for this.

"And I am a field agent for the Alliance to Restore the Republic." In the background he could hear Roan scoff, and he noticed a slight smirk on Chatak's face. He smirked himself, nodding in agreement.

"Yes, I know how pretentious that sounds. Regardless, I am a staunch believer in democracy, and I believe that Justice would be served more expediently if the Republic was returned to power." Obi-Wan continued.

"But the Republic _chose_ to become the Empire." Tsui Choi pointed out.

"Based upon a string of lies and deceit!" Rahm cut in boldly.

"I refuse to serve under any other banner other than the Force. The Dark Side corrupts all." Marek cut in. The conversation went completely quiet, and you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Finally, the all erupted into yelling at each other.

Obi-Wan held up his hand.

"I understand your concerns. And I was going to say that I will not force anyone to serve in the rebellion." Obi-Wan practically had to yell above them. He caught Yoda's eye, and received a nod of approval.

"As Yoda said, we are here to discuss the Jedi Order, _not_ the Republic or the Empire." Obi-Wan made sure that each word was heard by every member of the group. He paused, and they all looked at him intently. He focused in on what he had to say.

"The Jedi Order has been almost completely destroyed. It is our first and foremost duty to ensure the continuity of the order, so that future force sensitives will have a place where they can learn to control their powers and we can prevent the Sith from ever arising in the Galaxy." Obi-Wan informed them.

"The New Jedi Council, this is." Yoda informed the rest of the group. Some, or rather most of them, looked in surprise at the small green man. Including Obi-Wan himself. He had been unaware that Yoda intended on going this far, especially given his misgivings about some of the attendees, namely Marek and Kota.

"I... I am honored, Master Yoda." Master Chatak spoke. Next to her, Master Shryne's jaw was close to touching the floor. Out of all of them, Master Marek seemed the most surprised, he stood up indignantly.

"If you think this will convince me to renounce my family, you are sorely mistak-!" Marek raged at Yoda, before he was cut off.

"Your family keep, Kento. Need their help, will we." Yoda replied, stopping his tirade before it began. He bowed his head gracefully. Obi-Wan practically gasped.

"Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks." Tsui Choi cracked a joke, relieving the tension in the group. Everyone sighed in relief, and a couple even chuckled, including Master Yoda himself. Obi-Wan seized the moment, seeing that the situation had returned to normal.

"Each of you have a connection to at least one other Jedi. This is simply a meeting to ensure that the Light Side is perpetuated. I know of no one in this group that has even remote leanings towards the Dark Side. And yes, that even includes Master Kota." Obi-Wan cracked a joke, to which Kota himself smirked.

"We must have solidarity in these dark times. Should one of us come to danger, the others must being willing to come to the rescue of the others. With this in mind, Senator Organa had his crack lab come up with these." Obi-Wan spilled open a bag full of special communicators, one of which Yoda already possessed.

"These are the most secure lines in the galaxy, and can provide connection with the rest of this group." He informed them.

"Though I must warn – should any of you get captured, it is your solemn duty to destroy the object." He looked about the group, and each of them shook their heads in agreement. They were resigned to accepting this duty. Obi-Wan nodded, looking over at Yoda.

"Adjourned, this meeting is." The little green man told them.

"Dinner, we now have." He chuckled heartily as multiple bowls full of food began floating peacefully towards them. Obi-Wan noticed Roan Shryne was already sticking out his tongue in disgust. He smiled. Maybe things could get better. Maybe this was just the start of an even greater Jedi Order.


	17. Chapter 17

**17 GrS, Coruscant  
****8 Months after the Execution of Order 66**

That man was perhaps the most frustrating creature to have ever graced the Senate floor with his presence. Jannie Ha'Nook stood on the edge of a platform on the cusp of the Senate building, sometimes called "the Coliseum" by those in the slums. That moniker had always been her favorite – made her job sound powerful. She licked her lips maliciously at the thought.

And then she frowned. Because it was all going down the drain. Things had been moving up with Palpatine in charge – he had been slowly centralizing power more and more, and that wasn't exactly something she minded. On top of that, he had seen something in her that caused him to pull her closer into his circle of trust. This _would_ have given her some sort of power in the new order, but since that traitor Jedi had killed him, she had been returned to just another Senator.

She looked over her shoulder back into the chamber where the various bureaucratic tape continued to draw out the same argument they had been going over for weeks. She hardly understood why Palpatine had ever trusted that blue bastard in the first place. Maybe she had been right to sign that Delegation of 2000. At the time it looked like Palpatine was at the end of his leash, and it seemed in her best interests to switch sides at her convenience.

Then he had survived that first assassination attempt, and he had skyrocketed to power. No big loss on her part, she shrugged. She simply used the right connections and had her name obliterated from that particular rebellious record, and planned to continue to be a powerful crony under the Emperor of the entire Galaxy. And then the second assassination attempt, the one that succeeded. Now that old bastard's alien right hand man, Mas Amedda, was the Emperor in charge. He had always been a stickler for rules, and she suspected Palpatine had used him to hinder the previous Chancellor's actions so that he could gain his position.

Nothing that she wouldn't do herself. But now Amedda was in _charge_. He was always meant to be a crony, Jannie thought. She heaved another angry sigh, pacing the platform and wondering about her position in life. She needed power, and now she lacked it. It was a wonder of luck she had gotten this far, but she had always worked hard for her spot in the galaxy, and one bad turn of luck wouldn't stop her.

"I see you've got yourself quite a dilemma, Ms. Ha'Nook." A voice came from behind her. She practically jumped out of her skin, emitting a quick yelp. She turned around, looking back and forth, but couldn't see anything. After a few moments, a robed figure came from the darkened tunnel leading back to the Senate floor came out of the shadows, moving it's way around the nearby water fountain to approach her. She resisted the urge to recoil.

"Who are you? What is the meaning of this?" She demanded of the figure. There was a deep, unnerving chuckle, and the hood went down. It revealed the shining bald head of a man with a black cloth over his eyes. She wondering how at all this freak could see at all. The lanky man approached her.

"Stop right there." She pulled out her blaster, which of course she kept on her. Best not to put too much power in the hands of others, especially the fickle guards of the Senate. The man kept coming, so she fired a shot without hesitation. She was not putting up with the advances of some old freak. To her utter surprise, the blaster stopped a few centimeters from the man's palm.

"If you don't stop to negotiate, I suppose I'll have to find another candidate for the job. It's a real shame, you seem like one who would enjoy such power." The bald man spoke. The mention of power caught Jannie's attention, and she stopped cold. Clearly she wouldn't be able to harm this man. And clearly he had some sort of ability, and if he was offering some sort of power who was she to turn him down?

"What's your name?" She said crossing her arms calmly. The bald man smiled.

"My name is Jerec. I am a... Jedi. Yes."

"And why would a Jedi, a breed of overpowered _freaks_ now on the run from the people of the galaxy, want to offer me, a simple human, any sort of power whatsoever? I have no interest in your silly parlor tricks. Order 66 should have proved to you that enough blaster fire can take even your best men down. Now I'd suggest you make a significant offer before I call the guards." She threatened. Jerec only smiled wryly in return.

"Yes, you will be perfect for the job." She couldn't help but feel a chill come up her spine. He continued.

"Worry not, you will not have any sort of share in my 'parlor tricks'. I have an offer of more significance to you – control of the Empire." He let that stone drop for a second. She tilted her head, urging him to continue.

"I have certain... abilities, as you are probably aware. These would come most in handy in manipulating these simpletons in the Senate, not to speak about Amedda himself. But the blue man has no ambition, and the longer he sits in power, the more time the Jedi have to recover, which is not acceptable." He spat out this last phrase, and she raised an eyebrow.

"If you're a Jedi, wouldn't you _want_ the Order to recover?" She asked. He laughed derisively in reply.

"You amuse me, Ms. Ha'Nook. No, I want ever last Jedi in the Galaxy extinguished. They have hidden an extensive amount of knowledge that they would wish to remain hidden. I believe that knowledge is power, and the less Jedi that know what I know, the more powerful I become. I'm sure you can understand that sentiment." He smiled, and despite the terrifying nature of his unnatural smile, she couldn't help but smirk herself.

"And how do you imagine we could help each other, Mister Jerec?" Jannie asked of him.

"The deal is simple enough to understand, I would hope, Ms. Ha'Nook. I make you Empress, and I become your head adviser, with complete and total access to every scrap and file in the galaxy. And a Jedi Hunt to end all Jedi Hunts. Order 66 was a good start, but Amedda has lost steam." Jerec laid out the plan. Jannie looked at him curiously for a few moments. She still wasn't entirely convinced.

"How on Earth would you make me Empress? I don't know if you've ever paid attention to Amedda, but he's a bit of a stickler for process. How do expect to weasel anyone into that office without due process?" She asked. Jerec smiled, as if he knew something she didn't. He probably did.

"Amedda's got his own vices, Ms. Ha'Nook. Don't you worry about that end. If Palpatine could make him toe the line, I can as well." Jerec said. Jannie shrugged, willing to believe this. Everyone had a secret sin, one that they would sell their soul for. She had never really applied such thought to an alien bastard like Amedda, though.

"So, what do you want from me?" She asked, wanting the bald man to get to the point. Jerec held up a finger, as if asking a child to wait. This made her frown, as he was probably close in age to herself.

"In a week, Mas Amedda will request a secret audience with you. You shall take it, and you shall work your way into his inner circle. You're a politician, Ms. Ha'Nook, you can play a part very well. Go along with whatever he wants. Support his foolish rulebook-thumping. When the time comes, the floor will crumble beneath him, and we will have maneuvered you into a position through which you can pick up where he left off." Jerec told her. She almost gagged at the thought of being even remotely close to that blue alien freak. But her love of power was the stronger of her impulses.

She stuck out her hand. Jerec looked at it curiously for a moment, and then stuck his own hand out. They both grinned widely, nodding. And this was how it all began.


	18. Chapter 18

**16 GrS, Yannibar  
****1 Month after the Execution of Order 66**

It was one of those dark, hellish nights where the rain fell thick enough to blind and the only source of natural light was the lightning that periodically split the sky.

The adobe house shook from the force of the thunder. This in turn caused the fire to go out*, plunging the room into darkness. Prost looked up from his spot on the floor, where he had been kneeling and looking at the storm out of the window with curious eyes. For a moment, he stared sightlessly into the darkness. But a sudden movement to the side, a shifting of a pale-blue gleam, caused him too look around in time to see Anakin sit up from the bench in the middle of the room.

They were the only two awake; Padme and the kids had gone to sleep hours ago.

Anakin slowly placed the holopad he had been holding onto the table before him, sitting up and looking over at Prost Van'dik, the boy who had saved him in the Sith caves of Korriban. Though he supposed it was doubtful if he'd been 'saved' in the traditional sense. They hadn't really had a chance to talk about it. Not yet.

"Do you still have nightmares?" Prost asked, eyes drifting back to the storm outside.

"About what?" Anakin yawned.

"The cave," Prost said. Then, after a moment, "Or anything."

"Sometimes," Anakin admitted.

There was a slight pause. Then:

"What kind of dreams do you have?" he added shrewdly.

"My mother," Prost said guiltily. "I know the Jedi aren't supposed to remember their parents, but they didn't find me until I was nearly six. I still remember her. I have dreams of her, where she hurts. Where she dies painfully. That's what the cave showed me. In my dreams there, I was the one doing the torturing," Prost sniffed.

Anakin sat straight up.

"I had dreams like that, once. How do they make you feel?" Anakin asked, quietly.

"Afraid. Angry. All the things a Jedi shouldn't feel," Prost said.

He heard the slight sound of Anakin standing up behind him. He turned around to see the figure of a man towering above him, the small glint on his face where they had replaced his bones with metal – the result of an unfortunate run in with a fallen stone on Korriban.

He stood up too, wondering what the Jedi master wanted.

"What if I offered you freedom from those chains that bond you? Control over the fear, the hate," Anakin asked him ominously.

Prost was slightly confused as to what he was getting at, but shrugged his shoulders and nodded.

"Kneel."

Anakin's eyes had that same glint in them that they had had in the council room but a month ago. Prost still wasn't sure what it meant, but seemed to be a teachery face, as if he were about to impart some great knowledge. Having always been behind in his class of younglings, Prost was eager to learn under the tutelage of such a great master of the force. He knelt dutifully before his caretaker.

"I am the Sith Lord Darth Vader," Anakin explained.

Prost felt fear stir inside him at the mention of the Sith, but forced it down – he would soon be able to control it, if Anakin – Vader was telling the truth. And in Prost's mind, why would the Great Hero of the Republic lie to him? Anakin's blue lightsaber activated, extending right past Prost's face.

"I hereby claim you as my apprentice."

The sword came dangerously close to Prost's left shoulder, before rising above his head and coming down by his right shoulder.

"You shall henceforth be known as Darth Katador, my instrument of reckoning upon all my enemies. You shall fight my battles, and in return I will protect you when I can and teach you what I know. We shall be bonded together as Sith Master and Apprentice. Do you accept this?"

Anakin spoke in a deep voice, almost at one with the thunder.

Prost looked up at him, feeling empowered by some new energy. The small child faded away, and Darth Katador answered -

"Yes, my master."

* * *

**17 GrS, Tatooine  
****1 Year after the Execution of Order 66**

Katador dived under the table to avoid the blaster fire raining down upon him. As a single bolt singed his leg, he realized that he would need more cover. Without much more thought he kicked the table leg, sending it crashing down and bringing the entire top of the table to his defense. This would buy Katador a few more seconds to think. He casually noted as some of the blaster fire impacted the rocky walls above him, sending chunks raining down upon him.

He had dealt with worse.

Right now he found himself in the middle of Mos Eisley Cantina, on that forgotten hell world known to the Galaxy at large as Tatooine. But most people just called it Hutt Space. On it, Jabba the Hutt was slowly gaining more and more influence. As far as Katador cared, let the bastard get the whole damned sandbox. He was more interested in one of Jabba's lieutenants.

He sneaked a peak around the head of the table, before ducking back at a very close bolt fired by his very own target: the young Boba Fett. He was dressed up in his father's armor, and the way it was sized no one would have guessed that he was a mere teenager. Katador grit his teeth, pulling out of his pocket a thermal detonator. He clicked the button, launching it over the table with reckless abandon. If Fett was worth his salt he would dodge it.

An explosion rocked the far side of the cantina, and a scream was heard. Probably one of the other four bounty hunters, all of whom had decided it would be a grand old time to shoot at an eight year old. They were probably all apart of Fett's growing group of bounty hunters. Little did they know that they were actually being commanded around by a mere teen. Katador looked around the side of the table, noting calmly that there was someone's left leg now right in front of the table. All of the bounty hunters were strewn about on the floor, still in shock from the great explosion.

Katador stood up fully, opening the folds of his jacket, and inside were four discblades. Grinning widely, Katador pulled out a single blade, bringing his arm back and in one smooth motion sending it sailing across the room. An unfortunate bounty hunter who had been trying to get up fell back to the floor, his throat cut by the sharp disc shaped blade now protruding from his neck.

A blast bolt came towards Katador, but the force gave him just enough heads up that he was able to roll to the side. Not patient enough to wait behind cover again, young Katador send the two blades sailing away in front of him – completely away from the bounty hunters. But after a few moments, they began to arc back, as if some outside force was controlling them. They homed right in on the two bounty hunters who were shooting and killed both of them. Their cold dead bodies slumped to the floor without much fanfare.

Katador tried to come out again, now that Boba Fett was the only target left, but was instantly accosted by incessant blaster fire. Katador grunted in frustration, pulling out another thermal detonator. This would knock him out good. He pushed the button, then sent the object sailing over the knocked over table that he was now hiding behind.

Only a few short moments later, something plopped down next to Katador's feet. His eyes grew big as he realized the sight of his own detonator. Using the force to push the object away, he also dove as far away as possible. The explosion rocked his world, his eyesight going completely white – he was unable to see. He felt dust all around him as he lay on his back, his chest hurting from the force of the explosion. He groaned as he felt a heavy metaled boot land on his chest. A click of a blaster provided emphasis.

"What do you want?" The voice of Boba Fett, sounding deep through the distortion of his mask. Katador's vision was only just beginning to clear. He saw the bounty hunter standing over him, blaster pointed squarely at his face. His black visor was unreadable. Katador simply grunted, struggling against his hold futilely. The heavy boot kept him in his place. Fett chuckled bitterly.

A sleight of the force, and Katador's leg flew up right towards Fett's sensitive area. Pushing the force through his foot, Katador was able to launch Fett across the room, causing him to slam into the ceiling and fall back down with a thud. His helmet rolled off, revealing the young face of a teenage boy. Boba's eyes opened quickly, the rage easily apparent in his eyes. Katador met them with his own black eyes, meanwhile using the force to push the gun away from Fett.

Before he could do anything else, Fett had jumped onto his feet and ran straight at Katador. Taken by surprise, the young Sith was tackled cleanly, sending the two boys tumbling across the room. In the ensuing struggle, each of them managed to land a few solid punches to the other fighter's face. They hit a wall, leaving Katador on top. Now it was Fett's turn to kick, and without any force assistance either. Regardless, Katador was literally thrown off of the young bounty hunter.

He managed to land by a fallen blaster, and reached for it desperately even as Fett came towards him for yet another tackle. He brought it to bear, and it his target was close enough that he had did not worry about aiming. There was a sizzle, but Fett juked to the side before coming back into the center and swiping the blaster out of his hands.

A spin and a kick were added to the situation, and Katador slammed brutally into the wall. He slid down slowly, and Fett was once again on top of him, pointing the same blaster that Katador had just been holding. He had somehow performed that whole move so effortlessly, it was as if someone had taught it to him long ago. Katador made a mental note to remember the move and apply it in future battles.

"Who do you work for!" Fett demanded of him, his voice cracking slightly now that it wasn't modulated by the helmet. Katador spat at him, reaching into his jacket and pulling out his last blade. He moved his hand in a graceful sweep, sending it arcing into the air.

Fett moved his head slightly to the left, and it impacted the ceiling above him. He now made sure to manuver his feet so that both of Katador's hands were pinned. He grinned sickly at the tiny Sith boy.

"You're going to have to do a hell of a lot better than that if you want to kill me." Fett said.

"At least I'm not walking around playing dress up in daddy's clothes." Katador shot back. T his seemed to made Fett angry, and he brought the blaster up, aiming down the sights so that he could put a bolt between Katador's eyes.

At that moment, a discblade sailed by, knocking the blaster out of Fett's hands. His eyes grew wide, as he seemed to genuinely not see that one coming. Two more blades came down upon Fett's back, and another sailed right in the sweet spot of his armor, cutting straight through to his Achilles heel and knocking him to the floor.

Fett looked up at Katador angrily, attempting to crawl towards him and beat his face in. Katador simply smiled, pulling his fist back and bringing it forward faster than anyone could have seen. He tiny knuckles hit Fett right at the bridge of his nose, knocking him out.

Katador took a few moments of silence to catch his breathe after the intense fight. He then stood up, brushing the dust off of himself even as the four discblades danced through the air, placing themselves snugly in the small straps inside of Katador's pitch black cloak. He reached into said cloak, pulling out a small silver communicator. He clicked the button, and the form of a clone commander appeared before him.

"Scorch? This is Katador."

"Geez, you don't have to yell into the mic, kid." The clone joked. Katador didn't smile.

"Tell Vader I've got his prize." Katador informed him, even as he grabbed the bigger boy by the collar of his armor, dragging his limp body towards the door.

"Yes, sir." Scorch replied, a hint of thankfulness in his voice. This was good news, very good news.


	19. Chapter 19

**17 GrS, Stellar Envoy**  
**On the Main Deck**

Anakin stood calmly at the helm of the ship, _his _ship. Before him, he could easily see the two soldiers manning the piloting station, and past them the greater expanses of space. They had been drifting through Wild Space for some time, using minimal power and more or less floating until they reached their current place in an asteroid field. The calm and collected soldiers maneuvered them to safety with slight pushes of thrusters. Their ship was practically invisible, and if anyone had been tracking them, they were long gone by now.

"Lord Vader!" Commander Appo appeared next to him. He had disappeared some time ago to check communications in one of the many side capsules in the ship. Anakin nodded in response, giving him the go ahead to speak.

"The boy, Katador has contacted us on the secure line – Fett has successfully been captured." Appo relayed simply and efficiently. Anakin nodded again, watching carefully the port window before them. He saw a single bead of sweat drop down the back of one of the men's neck, and sensing danger, stepped forward.

The clone jumped back in utter surprise as Anakin's golden mechanical hand reached past him, grabbing the controls and pushing them slightly farther away from a nearby asteroid. A few moments later, a large rock in orbit with said asteroid swung around, right past the spot they had just been in. He then ducked the ship down under a second asteroid, effortlessly gliding under it.

"My apologies, Lord Vader. It shall not happen again." The pilot apologized. Anakin waved his hand, his human one.

"Don't worry about it, Rex. Piloting doesn't come naturally to everyone." Anakin replied. Rex seemed to give a curious glance in Anakin's direction – he was in an exceptionally good mood today. Rex smiled.

"Has the little brat been captured?" Rex asked. Anakin chuckled.

"Yes, yes. Fett is under our thumb." He responded simply, glancing for a moment at the picture of Padme that he had placed next to the cockpit. It was an old piloting custom, and he left it there even when he wasn't piloting the ship himself. She had become something of an inspiration to the men, which was a plus in Anakin's book. He pulled out his communicator, seeing a call from Padme. He turned on his heels, heading towards the brig of the ship while activating the call.

"Yes, honey?" He answered quickly.

"Hey, I was just checking in to see how you were doing. Luke's been crying all day – he could use his dad." Her tone was mostly sweet, but Anakin could sense a tension in her voice. He smiled, nodding at her hologram.

"I promise you, I'll be home soon enough. I've got a few favors to fulfill." He answered her.

"You're always doing people favors these days. It's sweet and all, but at some point you have to come back to your family. How is Prost doing?" She asked, just as a door in front of Anakin hissed, and out came young Katador, dragging the limp body of Boba Fett. Anakin grinned at his wife.

"He's doing well." Anakin replied, watching as Fett was dragged into the brig. There was a slight screaming from behind the door, and Anakin walked away from the noise. There was a pause on Padme's line. She clearly heard it.

"I thought you said there wouldn't be any bloodshed." Padme asked, her eyes narrowing. Anakin scoffed.

"He's still alive. For now." He replied, somewhat flippantly. Padme grimaced in reply.

"How can you justify doing this?" She asked. Anakin started to reply, and she cut him off, "And do not give me that protection bollocks that you always spin." Anakin frowned. She was a smart one, and that's why he kept her around. He sighed.

"These are men. Good men." He paused for effect, "And when they were cloned, they had their DNA altered so that they would age at four times the rate of a Basic Galactic Humanoid. Some of them have a year at most before they expire." Anakin avoided the word 'die', in case one of his men were listening in.

"We're going to break the code. But since the war clonings been practically erased from the universe. It's going to take some arm twisting, and I owe it to these men who have saved my life over and over to give them access to a long and happy life." He informed her. She stared at him for a few minutes, and then sighed.

"Fine. I don't like this business, though. How soon will you be home?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Depends on how quickly we get our information. Probably in a day or two." He responded. She nodded, and after a few more pleasantries the line was cut off. Anakin looked up to see the cold black eyes of young Katador staring at him. He sensed an anger inside of him. Anakin raised his head.

"Have any trouble with Fett?" He asked. Katador looked down. Back in his Jedi days, Prost had been the bottom of his class. Anakin had taken advantage of the boys fear and insecurity, morphing it into anger and power.

"The brat gave me a little trouble, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. The two prisoners are ready for you." Katador motioned with his head towards the brig, where Anakin saw one or two soldiers milling about. They of all people knew the potential danger of Fett – they were cut from the same cloth, after all. Anakin smiled at their efficiency.

"Master, it's been forever since we've gone hunting. I feel that had my training been more up to date, I would have had less trouble with the brat." Katador informed him, a slight whine in his voice. Anakin frowned, a small bit of darkness swelling around him.

"I will have to remember to teach you some manners later, since apparently you lack in those as well." Anakin replied, his voice dark. Katador shrunk backwards in fear, but Anakin grabbed his collar, making him stand up straight.

"Don't make me regret my choice, Prost. You said you wouldn't fail me, remember?" Anakin threatened him, and the anger in the boy's eyes were apparent as he pressed the child's button. All for the best, the anger would make him stronger.

"Don't call me by that name. I am a Sith." Katador responded, a mixture of hate and fear in his voice. Anakin scoffed at his bravery, letting go of the boy's collar and dropping him to the floor. He walked away, his black cloak billowing behind him.

"Then act like one." He responded simply as he walked through the door to the brig, two soldiers standing aside. They had been around long enough to know the difference between Anakin Skywalker and Lord Vader traipsing around the ship. It was time for some serious business.

**17 GrS, Stellar Envoy  
****In the Brig**

Boba Fett opened his eyes slowly, that characteristic look of hate already adorning his barely conscious face. He blinked once or twice, trying to get his bearings. Last he could remember, he had been at the bar with his 'gang of psychopaths' as Jabba liked to call them, and they had all been ambushed by some strange kid in a black cloak. He groaned slightly, looking around the room as his blurry vision began to clear.

It was quickly blacked again as a large boot connected with the bottom of his chin. He flew backwards from his spot sprawled out on the floor, flying back against the wall. But instead of sliding down, he felt a pressure on his neck, holding him in the air and slowly suffocating him. He opened his eyes wide, trying to identify the threat. He simply made out a black form before he fell to the floor.

In a panic, he reached for the weapons in his belt. He found nothing. He looked up at his assailant a sneer on his face. Another kick knocked him to the side, this time hitting metal bars. He rolled over in pain, feeling a pressure on his chest. He looked up to see a face somewhat familiar to him.

"Welcome to Hell, Brat." The tall dark man said. He looked somewhat like the famed war hero Anakin Skywalker, whom Boba had always been keeping an eye out for, but something was different. For one, his eyes were bright yellow. Secondly, his left jaw bone seemed to have been totally replaced with a golden droid-like support system. There were similar glints of gold metal next to his right eye and the edge of his left temple. It looked like he had some serious damage done to his head, and as a result his face was set slightly different from how it was before. His smooth boyish looks had been hammered by time and technology into a rigid, aristocratic face. Because of his half-mechanical jaw, his face seemed to always be set in determination.

"I am Lord Vader, and you are going to tell me everything you know about your 'conception'." Vader told the teenaged Fett. He looked over into the other cell and with a quiet gasp he recognized the face of his 'mother' – Taun We. He looked at Vader in anger, but the large man only smiled sickly.

"If you don't give us the information we want, you're going to end up like her." He motioned to the multiplicity of bruises and cuts upon her face, grinning all the way. There was a dark tone in his voice.

"And she's going to end up worse. She'll be begging for death." Vader paused. "Well, more than she already has." Boba Fett screamed in rage.

A few hours later, Vader left the brig with a satisfied smirk on his face. He had found what he needed to know.

* * *

Author's Note: In light of the twentieth chapter of this story, I would like to take the time to thank a few people. Firstly I'd like to thank 's resident Matt Quinn and LordInsane (who does not have an account here). Quinn came up with the initial idea about two and a half years ago, and the three of us bounced around potential plots for a while. We eventually narrowed it down to three possible story lines, and LordInsane wrote two of those - this is the third, which I began writing on a whim months ago.

Secondly, I would like to thank Ordis, who is my tireless Beta Reader. He's still catching up to the story, but he'll make it. ^_^

And to close, I will reveal an Easter egg to my faithful readers: The _Stellar Envoy _is actually the _Millennium Falcon_.


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